Enjoy these two powerful poems by Tina Klammer.
What
Do Women Want?
by Tina
Klammer
I
want to be the first face you click on before you’re out of bed.
Me,
in Bali, at the pool
In
Cancún or Thailand—
Me
in a bikini and a huge floppy hat.
I
want you to click
And
swipe
And
tag
And
follow.
See
my big lips?
See
my joy?
See
how I live my life
With
purity
And
selfies
And
postings
My
meta life?
What
do women want?
People
to love me. All the people.
All
the time.
People
I don’t know. People I’ll never know.
People
who buy the smoothie I’m shilling.
My
joy can be your joy.
And
then you’ll love me more and
I’ll
dive into
The
pool and
Emerge
Like
a fucking mermaid but
I’m
just like you.
A
real person except
You
want to be me
And
I want you to.
Skin
Remembers
by Tina
Klammer
On
a whim I invite my boy into the bath with me.
He
is six, but is so drawn to the steam and bubbles
That
he cannot help but stick in his hands and forearms
All
the way to his pushed up sleeves.
When
his shirt starts soaking up the water I finally relent,
“Ok,
you can get in.”
His
clothes are off in a flash and I see
How
little his body still is.
Narrow
hipped and bird chested,
He
steps into the tub and is immediately submerged
Up
to his armpits.
I
reach my dripping arms out to hug him
And
suddenly remember the babies,
His
sister and he.
Those
babies are gone.
The
only thing left of them are
Pictures
on an old phone,
Stored
away in the cobwebs of a harddrive.
I
can never touch or hold them again.
But
for this instant, as I hold him
Skin
to skin
In
the close warmth of the bath,
It
all comes back.
The
miracle of a new creature
Both
human and more than human.
The
oneness of his skin on mine,
His
smell, his own warmth and aliveness.
I
revel in it.
About the author:
Tina Klammer is a writer and soon to be Master Gardener living in Portland, Oregon with her family. Her work can be seen in publications such as True Parent and Country Pleasures magazines.
