ANGELO V. SUAREZ
yes there is love beyond sex
THE AUTHOR HOLDS THE COPYRIGHT TO THIS POEM. THIS IS POSTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE TRANSLATOR.
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                                                 so cunning  
         so cunnilingual
                                    the lifestyle she had led
poking tongues       between thighs
                                                  all the time in her hometown
or in the city where she studied
                                                                the anatomy of girls
                             at some all-girls school
where taxonomy was limited
                                    to butch and femme
         where even clips
                                                  not clits
                             were controlled by the nuns
         all of whom were repressed
                                                  where everyone was in love
with everyone else
                             (or so she said)
                                                  —but only for a week
         swapping spit and tongues
                                                                lovers and partners
                             in shockingly modern
melrose place-fashion
                                    and she didn’t care at all about fashion  
         just books and music         and neither did he
                                                when they met in college
—instant  connection—
                                    only he was a boy
         and the only boys she liked
                                                were brad pitt and jude law
                             plus she liked reading cortes
(carlos not the conquistador)
                                                                else it was purely girls
                             the type who could stick
their fingers up her center of gravity  
                                                her favorite spot  
         it didn’t matter whether
         she loved them or not
                                    whether she really knew them or not   
                                    whether they stank or not
in her favorite spot
                             so long as she had their names at least
                             and they were beautiful 
(hmm    no    they didn’t have to be beautiful  
                                                                 whatever)
         anyway he and she finally got together
                                   and he didn’t really know
what led her to fall for him
                                                previous lifestyle and all
                             always curious about
         and experimenting with her body
                                   but experimenting only with girls  
he cannot at all comprehend
         henceforth his fear of her loving
                                                                 his fingers and tongue
                                   inside her
                             because it can remind her
                             of the feel of girls inside her again
now he’s scared 
                                                of her longing
         for womanly arms and womanly scents
                                   doesn’t want her to draw water
                                   with the cup of her mouth
                             from womanly wells
he’s scared each time
                                                                 and all the time
                                   he creeps a finger in
once he realizes
                             she’s wet enough for it              (if not yet
                                                he goes down on her
to help her get wet enough for it)
                                   what calms him down
         is the intermittent
                                   yes
                                                escaping from her breath
yes    as if a brief response
                                   to an imagined proposal
                                                                           yes
                             of living the rest of their lives
                                                                 with each other     yes
regardless of his boyness  
                                                yes

                                   and finally she comes

                             home to him

                                                                 yes


This poem is part of the collection that won Third Prize for Poetry in the 2003 Palanca Awards
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