AFTERNOON IN CONTRASCARPE

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The afternoon passed sweet and ruthless
that the way forward is Pernod and ice
not shaken, unstirred
 
like your body a temple of
the familiar
yet each time a moveable feast
pressing pressing
against me are thoughts of us
Like this pen upon the page
Stabs of ink and verse
 
Should I write of the part that stings?
The holding back of so many things ....
conflicts that become an  absurd
courage
 
Even the brown eyed gypsy in me
cannot conjure up a cure
for fools who believe in love
or the poetry of emotion
 
Before now love was a foreigner
and in your touch I recognize my
own foreign self
that woman I have been trying to create
You have created her too
All along I sensed what it was I finally wanted to 
declare
Words that light up the cobblestone way
outside this hotel
yes, words to describe the moment
Voluptuous
Come lie next to me in the colors of this
voluptuous
full hour.
 

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Elizabeth is a former televison producer who launched the A & E channel for ABC's entry into the cable tv field. She has worked in theater, as an actress and writer, and for several years was the Program Asst. for William Paterson university's Jazz Studies program which fueledher entry into the performance of her original poetry. She was a founding member of the Brooklyn Poetry Choir which combined the elements of jazz and spoken word poetry. She has taught workshops in using poetry as creative transformation. She is currently preparing for a residency in Wroxton England with her study of lyrical classics while pursuing her MFA in poetry/creative writing.