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O C E A N S 1 1 - 1 3

po e m s

2 0 1 1-

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0 1 3

J E A N N I E Y O O N

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CONTENTS

1. BEAUTIFUL STORE..3

2. THINGS WITH WORDS..12

3. ACROBOTANICA..19

4. ZEN PARTY MIX..29

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3

1. BEAUTIFUL STORE

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4

LIEU

Here I am, paused in the squareField of my cloudbed, attendingThe revival.

Your arrivalCast by radical sorcery in sheer silverIlluminates the rippling memory

Dispersing through blue leaves of grass,Sailing over a vast, nearly-breathing screen.

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5

TASTE THE RAINBOW

Dreamy, disappearWith me into satin sheetsDissolve into my blood.

Honey, your tongueSo thick with expressedDripping amber sweetness

Green apple, perfectedParagon of fruit forbiddenWithering, tart

Blue notes are floodingMy minted heart at onceEmbraced and embracing

Under indigo expanse of night,Folding its wings together

To the tectonic murmurIn the earths black center

As we gasp towards heavenAll light and milky white

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6

LIMITLESS LOVE

Limitless loveI swim in your armsLaden with banglesGlistening tangleSweating profusely

I like to use theForce of your blowTo propel meIn to and off ofThe protectedTrunk of your heart

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7

AEROS

The shells placid curveWithholds a portion ofThe cyan solutionThat is, the sky.

In a forward gesture,The vessel comes closer,Bearing the bearer of the quiverAstern. His bow releasing.

The sea around us was ringedWith wavering folds of gold andWisps of green. The morningWas brimmingwe saw him coming.

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8

WOO

Sweet breath comminglesWith swift breeze rustles throughBlue on luminousAtmosphere holdsIn place your perfectUpswept hairbeautiful,

Laugh if the spirit moves you,Sulk forever if you want toJust know how all of meBends towards youall thatCame before just moreProof that I adore you

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9

LEVITAS

We were skyboundAnd floating, the continents

Looked like weird frecklesAdorning a smooth blue cheek.You touched your face in appraisal,said, I guess thats the earth,in a resigned melody. Even in space,I could hear it. The vapor-whitedrifts of spirits around us.The sun approached us. How hot

I got as I floated thereBeside you, burning up,Literally, burning with desire for you.In that whole expanding sky aliveWith mingling heavenly larvae of every hue,I drank the light, I was aloneAnd alight every atom of all of you.You enfolded yourself against me,Nodded slightly, whispered

That we should be making our wayBack to our own bodies, thoughtWe should take our leave of the sky.I disagreed, said All of youAnd I and all we see is allMore than matter and all proceedsUnder the aegis of love.Flocks and floods unseen

Flowed over the darkeningGround below. Celestial figuresWhirled overhead. We didnt speak.When you put your lipsOn my skin it slammed me inTo you.

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10

SPECIFIC OCEAN

When I stand where my feetTouch sand and my headAbove water faces the wideVista of Pacific waves

I made him up, I fear

So long and yawning the waitBetween the days we madeAnd the ones we expected

To meet in perfect embraceCool blue sea, my delightIs in my safety here, thoughOpen sea buffets me

And he, or his memory,Comes swimming up to meEyes alight and seekingDripping, lips pursed wryly

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11

MONSOON SEASON

Baby blue, do you know,Do you intuitThat I think of you still

Such images! meshedTogether supine against

A shimmering cline of hill

Each summer I think I willOne memory of painTo revive and fill me again

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12

2. THINGS WITH WORDS

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13

ANALGESIC

Your bodyshape of my shadowclingsat removefrom my body.No recoursebut to conjureand lay you down

in smoothest verse.In lieu of your fleshits specific heat--I improvise a dreamdrawn out on creamy reamsof our meeting.

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14

ELEMENTS

Water moves us;Air breathes us.Earth feeds us;

Fire warms and/or burns us.

Sound pleases us;Image seizes us.

Words, however, need us.

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15

MARK ME

WhenI grip this pen

Commence to carveA cleave through marrow

I thrust the point

It slips beneath

A sheave of shit I heaveAnd throw over my shoulder

Dig you asshole,Dig until you find her

Stricken at the center

Packed in deaths sediment

Roughly stuffed to fitThat ancient holy crater

But ought we to exaltOr save her?

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16

SPEED

aside the darting lighttightly through a lenspiercing diffraction

reverse toward mercurybear to one side

thinking reaction

bare your seamsparallel beamsbinding your skin

Who sent her? The visionthat seems to sprinthunting shelter?

inside revolutionsinverted at centermoving faster

listen, silencemagnifies sightlooking after

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17

DEIXIS

Would words have a softer biteWere they peach-flesh, peak of the season,Cheek-sucking sweet, flushed like a sunset?

Do I write for youOr for me? How heavy

Is a tree? The earth underneath?

They measured the speed of lightBut have yet to match it. We mightIn time surpass

The point of it, and thenTime itself will bend,Its resilience relenting.

Seized by your eyes, I amSaying Ill consider;Decided prior

To sink in my teeth.Mouthwatering speechMy desire secretes.

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18

LACUNA

Poem makesA gap on the pageFresh-turned

A penny droppedDescending in concentric

Flashing rings

Into the dark extendingLength of soundlessCondensated well

Rising to meetthat darknessYour feet alreadyFallen in

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19

3. ACROBOTANICA

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20

PRESS

Memory is a degradedMimicry of what was thenMute and now still silent

Wherever you are, the walls are high,The ceilings vaulted, windows scenic

The doors, inconspicuous and quiet

Locked in step I reproduceQuite well the airs of a princessPacing her fictitious cell.

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21

HORIZONTAL

Thick lightfast blinds shut tight

Against the pane that screensThe psychic darkness,Which is viscid as it seepsInto floral capillaries and diluteAs bluish ink. A daydream,I think, is listing acrossThat wavering horizonIn a steady and elegant line.

VERTICAL

Three folds of orange silkSuspended in the trust

Between the upturned hookAnd the downward thrustOf gravity, of course. I knowHow life sparked itself by a splitCoincidence of heat and waternowI wade in the matter, swimmingToward the halocline shimmering, there,Rising where your slender hull displaces

Unceasingly the restless surface of the riverAnd the light shuddering over it.

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22

TRIPTYCH

(I miss your six-pack.)Im in love with your absence,

I dont want to feedmy poetry to the academy,

This word is a deersprinting off

Obsessed with soundsunseen by wordsun-notated

And its intricate mapsand suggested routes

through gridded roads White tail dartingjumping, flashing

I pluck the notesthat you composeand feed on their brevity.

Erected in stone,their corridors and roomsloom before me

Describing erratic paths

of momentary lightRecorded for some reason,though Ive nevergone back and listened

Documented reamsof veritable histories, a libraryof human activity

Tracing the shapethat catches you

I never dared to touch you

though I wanted to,and I still do.

Give me words to giveagain to the things that sproutat the moment I see them.

You follow the creatureyou desire to capture

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You also unstring me,smile so deeply, wholly,I remember this image

I will engrave myself intothe plastic window

that pretends to protect Sharp breath,the thrill of the hunt

And I disperse and expandunstoppably, in so smalla place, disproportionate.

I neither break nor believe it,I resonate with subfrequenciessotto voce, a chorus of bodies

Intensely bound

at a fluctuating distanceA dance performedto an empty house.Still, I count and move

You, cast in the roleof a witness, mysteriousstranger, empty of secrets.

Chasing beautycharmed by naivet

In seven, the groove

marking the featherededge of your quick shadow

I see through the ruleI feel how you pullnew leaves from this tree

My thought is a pool,moonlit, steady and silent

You will take this love,this pearlescent fruit,and bite.

You whisper to methrough cracked glass panesfrom the narrow margin

I shed my habitsI dive.

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24

BEIGE DAY

The weight of my dayspenetrates and pervades me;

The tractors prowcleaves the fluttering wheat.

What a damnable process

that nourishes the need

To the brink of satiety,whereuponrelease.

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25

ARS BREVIS

Two lips lying prone in a room and fromWhich bloom forth many elaborate tonguesMurmur a story and the one

Therein is you. (And me.) An event of theeExposed photochemicallyReworked with a certain rhythmicity.

A song plays; it is old; long sinceComposed of hands now folded. ConvincedBy its yearning and wistful sentiment

You unfold with a sigh a fan to screenThe precise kind of light you want to see.Yet I perceive with certainty

Only the shifting depth of your eye.

Yes, I would depict us as dandelion seedsSlight and quick to the breeze, even

Lighter than light would be, alightOn a rising draft of desire, little whiteLashes drifting into slumber. Night

And I lie prone and alone in my ardor

Attempting to gather these particularWisps in the wake of our encounter.

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26

REPRISE

Where do you stand?

It's been a whileBut we're not in the pastNot much to go onTwo hands populateThe surface of a

Banyan treeI don't know what you look likeDid I ever?

I could look and seeBut Google is two clicksBeyond me

Lying down for leisureAt a lazy angleOne dirty foot danglesOver the edifice of mint-green

BedspreadIndolence hesitates to take me

Anywhere is goodA good place to startRunning at maximum speed at the one you lovePumping your fistsCryingI need you

Heat and humiditySheen the curvedPerimeter of my physicalityMoving through the roomFolded onto a busBlue, #472

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No last wordGiven the forgottenOrigin of what was itNo name

For getting deep inThe forms of letters

I know better than to turn back nowThough I want to dispel your shadeFrom lieu to lieuTap dancingGrinning wide

Right at you

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PHANTOM RING

I Can't Say If I Want ToTalk To You, Want

To Hold Or To HaveYou Inside Me A Word Cant Be

One WordAnd Another At OnceAt the Same Time

I Want From WordsWhat the Body Needs

From Food--Minerals and Shit Suck Them DryWords Are BonesSuss My HungerOut Here Alone

I Flip My PhoneOut Of My PocketBecause I Felt

A Phantom Ring

I Do So Want To KnowYou Feel the Touch OfYour Sweet TalkVibrate Me An Infinite Ocean

Of Slime

Getting WarmerRising Higher

Keep Hoping It's YouO Disembodied VoiceOf SomebodyI Desire

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29

CULTIVARS

The desires need waterat this tender stagepale saplings, slender and jade.

They begin like this,pressed into portionsof earth in plastic trays

And wait. I tend thempatiently until theyawaken and break open

Their casings, splitmembranes and pushtoward surface.

In this nursery,glass, a memorybox filled with light

Air wet and thickwith breath encirclesmy warm living form

Bent gently over,skimming the belovedfaces of my flowers

With delicate fingers.Among nascent blooms in rowsDazed patient lingering

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Mary Mary quite contrary,how does your gardengrow?I dont know,

But everything is green, stillhere inside the deepembrace of my dream.

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31

4. ZEN PARTY MIX

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SOMEONE THINKING ABOUT SOMEONE AND SOME STUFF

I read your email and it filled meWith dislike for myself for liking youFirst and now Im bound to do

The dumb thing where I throwMy confusion into a poem, howElse would I deflect it from you?

So I am trying to write this, nowWondering if its worthless drivel orThe kind of laconic verse in style

With writers you said you admired.You mentioned the notion of going to visitYour lover, after you work for a while

For the dough for the ticket to fuckingSiberia! Jesus Christ. Youre not nice.Youre online and Im invisible; an opening

For a metaphor about communicationAnd its dubious bidirectionality.Sometimes it appears certain to me

That youll get what I mean, but then

Its plain that we in fact do not seeEye to eye. Nor do we seem

To be in the same world at all, and of courseIm fine with mine until you assert yours,Like its nothing, for better or worse.

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I am trying to be direct and forthcomingI am trying to talk about stupid things

In an elegant way, which begs doubt

Regarding the rightness of my intentions.This is what Im all about. AmbivalenceAnd what eludes articulation.

Im not trying to be your girlfriendI am trying to win your undying devotion

I am trying to curb this determination

Above all I wish in my bitterest pithTo inflict these expurgations on allMankind and his sentient orifice

Facing a screen like mine I face nowTo address a relentlessly shifting audienceI am trying to win, I am trying

To raise the question of exactlyFor whom I continue articulatingThis shit disappearing into the internet

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END OF AN EROS

After postmodernism glanced awaySayonara!what did we do but turn to the clockand sink into our seats, lower and lower, slump intoour screens, looking at pictures of pictures ofpictures of pictures of pictures of pictures ofpictures of pictures of pictures of pictures of

pictures of pictures of pictures of pictures ofpictures of pictures of pictures of pictures ofpictures.

....

.

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STUFF

Imagine every surface sprawled before youCoated in a layer of diamonds

caramelasheshair

And in the warm recess of your fistCurled around a kind of gift a lily

a lettera dollara blade

You steel yourself against the stillPortent of an ardent will to bless

to striketo kissto make

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36

LOOK AT MY BODY

I can move in itI'm with itI'm in it to win it

Tonight is every nightAll night

You come upCome up in this spaceLookin for someAll casual like

I ain't no foolPlayin the playI do this every day

My hand on my hip and my arm bends a diamondMuscles displayed in diagonalI'm posing for you

Roses in my teeth for you and Im ready to rumble

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THIRD PERSON

Enough portmanteausLock eyesStranger youStranger me

All togetherMake three

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SKINNY

Thinness is not for meI wanna waddle my wayThru the world pushing spaceAside with the perfect globe ofMy young girl ass

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WHOOPS

Better than perfumeThat scent you exudeWhen hardAt workOn something

Reminds me of my dad

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PLAYBACK

my cell phoneown my self

.

im riding

my writing

.

a bleak oblique ablution

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41

Q:

Does saying something make it true or untrue _

I suppose i want to know what it is that words really do _

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HENCEFORTH

I will notPut what I meanIn such opaque packagingUniform white cloudsPrinted on the wrapping

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All of the poems you just did (or did not) read were put together by Jeannie Yoon

over a period spanning from September 2011 to July 2013.

Sharing is cool, but please attribute.

e-mail: jyoonmaps@gmail.com

tumblr: jeanwhy

twitter: @zenpartymix