Two Poems by Tina Klammer

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.