Take your hands
away from your balls.
Stow them safely
behind your back
and breathe.

You need to know
exactly how much
I could hurt you.
How much
you could take
before you break.
Everyone does.

It’s the not knowing
that terrifies.
Will your capacity
to endure
ever live up
to your own
exacting standards?

Isn’t that
what you fear,
my love?

That place,
beyond tears or doubts,
beyond words or confusions,
no ambiguity,
no lukewarm
sentiments.

Nothing but fierce
and purifying light.
Nothing but the truth.

How long has it been
since you imagined
bathing in
that radiance?

You wonder
if it will unman you,
but only long enough
to know it will.
You wonder
if you will come apart
in my hands like a child,
and you surely will.

But they will be  my hands.
That much I promise.
And that is the only promise
that truly matters.


Comments

10 responses to “In My Hands”

  1. Genevieve Avatar
    Genevieve

    You always seem to manage to reach inside, grab my heart and twist it hard.
    Powerful and moving. Thank you.

  2. Wow, simply wow!!!

  3. I love this. Magnificent and so heart reaching.

  4. God I love this.

  5. Michael West Avatar
    Michael West

    Not your best poetry or flash fiction: but as a study of femeninity, the power of the weaker sex against male whims, desires, and fears, his surrendering admissions: a superior work. The smallest most delicate hand, stroking the largest and most arrogant member, produces a surrender which is as terryfying as it is deirable. “Putty in her hands” and older cliches, have a truth we seldom explore. The implicit power is frightening.

    1. I have to agree with you, it’s not my best by any means. I r hesitate to say I write poetry at all. I just stagger phrases because it feels right. hehe.

  6. “Nothing but fierce
    and purifying light.
    Nothing but the truth.”

    so very moving
    thank you

  7. This is so strong and lucid. Yet, when I read it the first time (and second, actually) I saw “You know exactly how much I can hurt you” which changes the meaning significantly for me. From the promise of a first time, it becomes the re-engagement of a relationship, taking it to a new level. I love how thought-provoking your work can be.

  8. “It’s the not knowing
    that terrifies.”

    There is so much truth in that one single line that it momentarily left my breathless.

  9. Indeed it is the only promise that matters. I enjoyed this – thanks.

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