Two Poems by Leo Dragstedt
Pigs, Stars and Love Hearts
I want to taste the stars.
From here they look like
sugar spills in the sky.
I wonder,
are they Parma violet sweet
are they hard like love hearts
and will they taste like valentines to me?
Did you know that a pig cannot lift its head?
Evolution has given them only a short neck,
they cannot look up.
At times I feel like a pig
seeing stars for the first time,
tilted to the side
seeing a whole new part of life.
I wonder how I lived so long,
so still.
How I managed to miss
this part of the world,
and who I’ll be
next time I ride this tilt-a-whirl.
Forgive Me, Body
When I’ve struggled to embody the man
who’s been mummified inside of me
I have tried to starve him out,
choke him down.
To swallow mountains in my throat
because it’s hard to thread words through rock
and not come out sounding like gravel.
I have tried to be my father’s son,
to be someone who doesn’t make a fuss
but I’ve proved myself unworthy
even of my own trust.
So I just want to apologize,
because this body
is the best I’ve ever possessed.
So god bless the chest
that holds my heart.
It’s contained the bastard
as it’s fallen apart.
And bless the parts
I’ve sworn at.
They’ve professed
their love
no matter how compressed
each beat,
each breath.
Every second I have left
is a lover’s gift to another.
I have had the audacity
to let you hurt by your own hand
for not being the man I thought I needed.
Now please forgive me,
for I love the way
I curve like the earth.
I have seen
horizons rise and unfurl since then,
flexibility in manhood since then,
so let courage be
my extra rib
and may I whittle it myself.