New-Age Guest Poet – Harris Coverley

Say Anything

I cannot make love to you right now
the moon glows too bright on my back
the sallow beams tickle my eyelids
it cools and burns in all the wrong spots
I cannot focus with all that going on

I cannot make love to you right now
the sea so near to us
is simply too loud
whistling and bending its turquoise waters
back and back and forth and rolling, rolling
it’s giving me a headache
or the likeness of one
at the base of my skull
and eye sockets

I cannot make love to you right now
my joints are sore with the day’s walking
my jaw is sore from the talking
you had me do with those people at our adjoining table
sore also from the ribeye steak you had us share
(tough, so tough)

I cannot make love to you right now
the sheets are too rough in some places
and too softly kept in others
it makes me itchy and drowsy
and distracted and too calm

I cannot make love to you right now
your dress is fitted too tightly
I cannot work it loose
it’s like a straightjacket made of velvet
and money
(too much money)

I cannot make love to you right now
for when I look into your eyes
they are mirrors of a memory
in which are reflected back some other lover
like a stain
something soaked into a carpet or wallpaper
like a fear of something
an unspoken oath

I cannot make love to you right now
the air of salt
and seaweed is making my nostrils sting
and my stomach rumble
and my heart feel heavy
and lost
a pebble in the sands
of your skin.


Harris Coverley


Harris presented his poem at our weekly
New-Age Poets Society meeting. A discussion was held
afterwards at the pub. All thought the opening
lines:

I cannot make love to you right now
the moon glows too bright on my back

shone out as a true making of an
up-and-coming New- Age Poet

Well done Harris……

clap clap clap clap clap

(five members present , 5 claps
Fan, Terveen, LC, Cassa, me)

G’day


A. He’s mad……..
B. No, just different…....