TEMPT ME WITH YES...

From The Archives... analogue poetry and word play, revised.

I wrote this in Y2K. I’ve been bandying it around for months, playing with formatting, tweaking the meter, but I could not decide what in “wanted” to be: poem? Lyric? Should I create a stronger point of view?

Last weekend, I shared my thoughts with my husband, who (I think) nailed it in his usual incisive way:

“No, you should leave that the way it is. Make a few small tweaks if you want to, but don’t mess with it too much. That’s your lyrical process and it works. It doesn’t matter if you post it as a poem —though it still sounds like a lyric, to me. It’s sexy: let it be sexy…”

Sage advice from one of the wisest humans I know.

Let it be what it is.

I love that.

Hope you enjoy it.

It’s good to be back on the Stack.

xB

***

TEMPT ME WITH YES
by RCSS (2000, revised)

Tempt me with yes:
believe in this body with tender caress
and lips to my breast.
An easy surrender to unconsciousness,
to thrash and quiver, quiver and thrash,
then slowly exhale on soft, shaky breath.

And when I return to the world,
with my sweat and my mess,
will you wipe my brow with deft fingertips?
Do heed my need
for your safe tenderness.

Tempt me with yes.
Oh, tempt me with yes…

-RCSS 2000 / 2025