ROMANCE Poetry Reading: Open Spaces, by Kevin Cahill

Performed by Val Cole

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POEM:

Open Spaces By Kevin Cahill

When she looks at me
I understand only
That we have to get this close
To see how infinitely far away
We are from one another
I have to caress her bare skin carefully, tenderly
to see how far we have stretched the tissue of gesture
The skins of words that clothe us barely

And when I look into her green eyes
I understand only that I might not be here or there
That to dwell daily in the heart of open spaces
That to fall nightly into their spiralling silences
Is to be held aloft
Even if only for an emerald instant
Before I behold those eyes dart down
Like falling stars
And plotting their trajectory
I spy the safe harbor of a hard bound book on the bedspread
Or the narrow familiar terrain of her own wrist

And when at length her eyes are swept back up to me
Behind those lovely lashes
I understand not even this much