A response to Lia
by David ben Alexander
The truth is I am throbbing inside of you right now The truth is your lips quiver to my pounding meter The truth is you are swollen gushing with our verses
The above poem is my take on d’Verse’s ‘a conversation’ prompt.
d’Verse prompted us to look back over the last year; choose a poem that calls to us; and write a response to that.
I selected a poem by my friend Lia- ‘The truth is’ because I love the idea of a poem manifesting itself in a body that can enflame our hottest, fiery passions.
Below is Lia’s poem, which my poem responds to:
The truth is
by Lia
The truth is I always want to be with your poem’s body The truth is I always need the poem inside of me
Innuendo to innuendo…inflammable you to her roaring fire….brilliant understated passion to your perfectly hot response…Wow!
💝 💝 💝
It’s okay, Lia. When our poem is published, it gets owned by humanity. Readers can own it in many possible ways, we have no idea how they are touched by it. And that is just amazing! I ,too, love that passion in between the spaces of your poems.
Thanks, Estrella 🥰
I’m so glad you felt the passion!
-David
Deceptively brief yet deceptively effective.
I am very honored that you feel so!
Thanks, Lisa!
David, you took this to another level!
The truth is it is awesome!
Lia’s poem is fantastic.
Thank you so much, Punam 🙂
You are welcome. 😊
Lusty, sensual, and transcendent with the love of words! 🙂
EXACTLY!
Thank you so much, Dora!
-David
Oh, my dearest David… that is brilliant and … passionate.
xoxo
This was was one that I never imagined myself writing, TBH… But, yes, it aroused something within me!
-David
thank you for sharing
Stay wealthy healthy safe and happy
🙏
Lisa’s poem is breathtaking…and your segue is brilliant! Loved it. May your words go on many such adventures 🙂
Thank you so much, Sangeetha!
Stunning! Just absolutely stunning 💝
Thank you so very much, Sanaa. I really appreciate it!
-David
Oh… well this is a bit of a shocker. I wish you would have asked/warned me! Not really sure what to say except that in actual fact my poem had a different meaning – i.e. the poem we really *need* is the truest song or voice that arises from within our own source creative energy. But yes, okay, double entendre. And/or unclear writing. Point seen!
Best wishes David. And thanks for all your help. Your regular criticism has shown me a lot. (Quite literally in this case. :)) And helped me confirm a few ponderings I was having also, with regards to my own writing. Apologies for all that passion which I did not expect to have such a wide reach (my own fault, as you say in a comment above). Your writings about your father and your grief are lovely and have helped me deal with my own grief as well in some ways. Wishing you and your family a lovely new year, with every happiness, health and peace.
Lia, I certainly hope you’re not offended by this poem! It didn’t occur to me that you intended yours a different way – I loved what I thought you had written, and it pushed me beyond my usual comfort zone. You actually made me (even if inadvertently) think about poems in a totally different way, which I am deeply thankful for. Responding to your poem was a sign of my appreciation for it and for you!
Thanks David. I appreciate your kind words. However, I perceive a difference between your poem and mine: Mine states its author’s own truths — or at least it attempts to — however ineptly. Yours, though clever as always, appears to state someone else’s — which is the exact kind of assumptive-type poetry my own poetry blog was born as a response to. I don’t think we should assume what others feel. We are too likely to assume wrongly.
I have assumed wrongly on many occasion I am sure, perhaps in this instance also, and I am sorry for that. I haven’t been clear about a lot of things. Also, two wrongs rarely (if ever?) make a right, and I have acted too often reactively. I guess this is karma coming back at me. :))
Anyway, thanks again for the kind words and response. 🙏💛
Lia,
I see what you mean. I do see this somewhat differently. Here are a few of my thoughts:
First, my poem was written from the perspective of the poem itself. In other words, it’s not the poet’s voice – it’s the poem’s voice. And the intense relationship is between the manifestation of the poem and the reader’s mind. Secondly, while my poem was inspired by yours, it’s not directed only at you – it’s directed at anyone who reads it. It’s the idea that the words of a good poem have some real and intense power over its readers’ states of mind and creative processes.
Thirdly, for me personally, it’s hard not to come away with my own meaning(s) when I read another poet’s poetry. I think it’s fair to say that public art naturally becomes not only what the artist intended but also what its audience interprets it to be. Personally, I would assume that every individual who reads any particular poem (mine, yours, or any other poet’s) takes something different away from its words… in revealing our art to others, don’t we give up control of its meaning?
I like your explanation in the second paragraph. I too speak with a “poem’s” voice when I write, because my own perspective changes with every poem I write. A feeling written in one poem is often not present in the next.
I agree with the arguments in your last paragraph entirely and these thoughts have been much on my mind lately, even more than usual, along with a few questions of ethics that I keep coming back to philosophically. Yes, you’re right, everyone will interpret output differently as it becomes input. We have to determine what is worth putting “out there” and why. In this particular blog I allowed myself a lot of creative freedom. Perhaps more than my own inner boundaries are comfortable with in retrospect. That’s my problem to consider. Whom have I harmed, when, and how? Is the big question I often ponder. Did any good things I might have achieved outweigh the bad? How could I do better in future?
What I hugely appreciate is that you allow and engage in thoughtful discussion. That perhaps is the most valuable, on any platform, yet the most complicated and/or time-consuming to manage. Thanks for taking the time here now, to respond so kindly. I value what you have enabled here. Also you’re a highly engaging writer, as you must know. Kudos and virtual fist-bumps, David. :)) “Namasté” (I bow to the divine within you), as the Buddhists say. :)) ✍️🤜✨🤛🔆🙏💛
Lia – I wish you all the very, very, very best.
I have loved everything of yours that I have had the privilege to read.
-David
😭🙏💗🌷 thanks David… so much. Means a huge lot.