[Newspoetry] Re: You are dreaming of a Poem II: Bottle of Wine

[Donald L Emerick]

Bottle of Wine
(another Rettbergian dream)

I dream of writing a poem
that tastes like a good wine --
"red" would be its color,
or purple or lavender...
a fruity thing,
sweet and heady,
whose alcohol ripens
on my lips and tongue,
slips into my bloodstream
by direct absorption.

Now, that is transubstantiation!
I don't need to dream
that some god's blood
flows into my veins
as a transfusion of divinity,
as if some God wears
a red cross on his lapel,
to show that he gave,
at the office or the store
like some publican whore.

I dream of a wine's poem
teasing laughter out of me,
chasing away my blues,
reversing Doppler Shifts,
parting the Red Seas in me,
sending my sadness
speeding away from me.

I have a dream of drinking
All these waters of life
from an ever youthful fountain
that will not fail nor dry up --

and then I have to pee
and sleep, undergo digestion,
find the sediments were there,
hidden under the veining leaves,
waken with head hungover,
body hungdown in torpor.

And the bottles I emptied
stand and lie around me,
one with a broken neck,
shattered glass shining
fragmentally,
unfragrantly,
sourly asking me why
livers make such bad lovers.

Thanks for listening,
Donald L Emerick