JENNIFER HESTER
Jennifer Hester makes me want to sing 'Nobody does it better - makes me feel sad for the rest'. this poet deals with heady lusts and desires, overlapping sexuality with sensuality through her skilful manipulation of language, sound and emotion... she leaves you feeling like an ice-cube slowly melting in the bottom of a glass of whisky...
On Boys, Love, and the Devil
Not necessarily in that order...
I once sat on the Devil's lap
while he fed me
apples
and sang
Hallelujah
squirming snake-ish
beneath my skirt
E x p a n d
and con tract
Flesh and friction
Static storms across the
floor --
Sparking recognition
some carnal sensation
smeared
from my lips
Hips and thighs
pump
a little rhythm to
back him up
a bass line count
1
2
3
let's go!
His mouth pressed against my
heart
he whispered
Honey, Laaaamb
You are so very pretty when
your eyes
are blind with heat
and Damn
weren't his fingers hot..
I believed him
When the moment moved him
When the time had come
he spilled
I love you, I love you, I love you
Some boys will say anything to steal your soul
DELERIUM and BRUISES
He fed me electricity
blue light and fire
DELERIUM and BRUISES
He stirred my imagination
and I licked it from his fingers
Thinking to myself
how it tasted like delerium
and bruises
This is how he built his home
within the hollow of my throat
against the curve that was my neck
before he knew me
He played inside my head
carnage
Brutal break and entry
He layed across my skin
seconds
Brick red and Please Me heavy
He changed my name
Soaked me in fever
Sugar, sweat, and maddening pressure
From my mouth I let him swallow
fuck me urgencies
delerium and bruises
MAYBE YOU ARE
Maybe, Baby
you are
that dusky whisper that hides
behind my eyes
The sigh I swallow back as it
begs to be released (free me)
And you could be that spoiling sin
scorching my skin beneath my own
fingers
I would raise them to your lips
burn your mouth if it would heal them
The blue in my dreams
The tangle of sheets that
peace struggles against
Rough and
stripping off my sleep
Maybe, Baby
you are
FLOATING (PT.2)
...he pretends we've met before, and I imagine I am the ice in his whiskey...
my need was to fly, and I am so high now
suspended above the melted surface of the floor
liquid and smoke
Thought has managed to stay connected
tethered and tied to me
a red balloon secured to a child's wrist
reminding me
I really do know nothing
except that biting my lip will strike a man's attention
and some where behind me, a voice is urging some Crazy Diamond to shine on
these two acts converge to bring the floor back into focus
damn
the man at the bar
convinced we are soul mates
arguing his point through slurred speech
his eyes fixed intently on the small strip of fabric that has disobediently fallen off my shoulder
the devotion of his gaze amuses me
so dedicated to that small, bareness of skin
he has stopped trying to form a lucid sentence
I reward this by allowing my fingers to play across my arm
I watch him wipe small beads of sweat from his face
I watch as he shifts in his chair
uncomfortable
as though his clothing had turned on him
strangling his body
the floor is much closer now
I am tired
I want sleep
to crawl into bed and bury myself beneath the blankets
I will dream of the time
the exact moment
Passion, Insanity, Love, and Hate
all switched faces and laughed in ours
so proud of their deceptions
I put out my cigarette and consider kissing Mr. Whiskey on the cheek
Would he see it as anything other than a small act of charity?
would it be there on his face in the morning?
or rubbed off by rough sleep and dirty pillowcases.....
the floor has come back to me
BASEBALL BATS and TANGLED HAIR
Break my mind
Damage me
Fold my corners so I can’t see
While I’m caught up in the brevity of a moment
…you pushed the hair back from my face…
you’re so reckless with your venom
company is coming and everything’s a mess!
Your sharpened syllables continue to insist
This is all me
Stupidworthlessfuckingbitch
Tangled in my hair
Again
Whydon’t youeverlisten
Cracks the bedroom mirror
Again
And me
in my bare feet
Staring at your baseball bat
Again
Wondering if I can get you to
SHUT UP
ELECTRIC, LIES, AND BROKEN CHINA
I burnt my tongue and called him
God
and I moved for him
pushing myself against solid form
fingers, and wordless speech
and I was liquid
whiskey warm and mind altered
He motivated my hips to
slow, rounded rhythms
Dancing like smoke
suspended
blurry thought and hazy vision
He told me
China does not cry when it is broken,
but you will
And I did cry - to please him
I professed love and lied
Poured starvation into his hands and
let him feed me again
MOVEMENT
The slow, lazy
sway
The way my hips pretend not to notice that you
follow me
Your eyes swallow every move I make
My pulse quickens with the knowledge that
I move you
I’m the alter where you pray
Where you lay all other thoughts aside
and worship...
So lover, speak to me in tongues
Read me with a blind man’s hands
Seek wisdom
inside me
Seperate and penetrate
fact from fiction
Find your truths
in the way my body arches
up
to reach you
Do you move me?
Yes
Yes, you move me
Let Me Start
Warm
The water rushes across the skin
I am here
Wet
Waiting for romantic gestures
Slow burn sensation of
Your body
how it tells me what you want
Lover, speak of love and I will
Drop to low degrees of shy
Bare anything you want to see
I am open books of naked pages
Write on me
Tear me out
Piece by piece
I cry out
Don’t stop now
I’m only getting started
Rough
Your edges cut me sweetly
I am here
Hot
Masochistic fever fills me up
I spill out on your bed
Your mouth
How it tells me what you want
Lover, sing of ache and I will
Climb to high degrees of bold
Show me all I want to see
With flesh and sweat and pounding rhythm
Play on me
Tease me out
Touch by touch
You cry out
Never stop
I’m only getting started
The Sting of Stained Glass
I think you would have me suffer
Wear you like bondage
Crushed strips
Deep blue velvet that
tie me to your thigh
Night against my eyes
I can’t see where I’m going
but I feel the fall
It's my voice that I hate the most
The taste of it in my mouth
Lemons then
sun
then ice (Please, fuck me, and go away)
I swallow every word of it
as you make love to me
through stained glass windows
that break and shatter
shards that bury themselves
on my flesh and in my hair
Yes
The colors are pretty
But you don't feel the sting
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