this is the love of perfect form

Rinconcito
is a special little corner in Somos en escrito for short writings: single poems, short stories, memoirs, and the like.

the body is as solid as the thought that holds it in place

by Carlos Schröder

​# 4

this was the love of perfect form
the verb the nerve the web colliding
ensuring the demise of muscles
tissues
the melting into you
mouths
speaking in tongues
never until now
then
understood
the meaning
leaning towards the light
like plants
unconscious barely

and words and words
and more than what i ever wanted
and more than what i ever got

this is the love of perfect form
these are the loves of perfect form
a conjugation
mispronunciation
the name is changed

the body is dreamed.


# 7

this is the occasion of language
of changing from utterance to word
from sound to meaning

this is the hour when the sun sets down
reassuring our instincts and betraying the scientific certainties

and it is this sun
sinking
obliterating itself
in the promise of a day following this one ceasing
that gives us hope
a glimpse of what we are
a structure upon which to fall as the lover falls into the arms
of the receiving lover
who holds
tightly
waiting for his turn to fall
to be held
to be had
to be over.


# 9

the body is as solid as the thought that holds it in place

the torturer knows this
and lets the victim know
that he can think of the body
as chapters in a book
independent from each other yet connected

then tears the pages
one by one.

​Carlos Schröder has taught English courses at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia, since 2004 and before then, taught at the University of Maryland. A native of Argentina, his creative work, mostly poetry, has appeared in publications both in the US and Argentina in English and Spanish and he has had a play produced in Buenos Aires. He is an active member of the Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH), http://www.apdh-argentina.org.ar, and with local groups in Washington DC, where he resides.

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​Rosa MIzerskiFebruary 16, 2019 at 12:04 PM This poem is absolutely phenomenal and sublime. One of the most poetic expressions of love in the manner of Octavio Paz