POETRY

Poems About You Tonight         

by David Lehman


The Left Bank


Don't walk away, Renee,

I'm just getting warmed up

your body is like a river

and I'm going to swim across

I want to explore the left

bank of you then the right

you're the only woman in

this room with a sunflower

in her hair and you take

forever in the bathroom

making me wait finally you

emerge with a bottle of beer

in one hand an ashtray in

the other and say, "Okay, when

do we start?" you're looking

good tonight Renee with about

twenty-five bracelets on your

left wrist bandages on both legs

an ankle bracelet how I long

to see you wearing nothing but

that ankle bracelet all my poems

are about you tonight Renee










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©1998

David Lehman

and Nerve.com

Commentarium (6 Comments)

Mar 23 99 - 12:00pm
TB

This is the best poetry I've read in a long time. I'd love to read more of this quality, by Lehman and other poets.

Mar 25 99 - 12:00pm
DM

Your magazine is absolutely marvelous. A couple of years ago, I ran into a poem of Mr. David Lehman on The New Yorker: "Who She Was". I must have passed it on to a couple dozens of friends one of my favourite pieces of poetry. I looked for Mr. Lehman's poetry books on the Internet, unsuccesfully. By chance (I was reading Charged), I ran into a series of his poems. Quite a nice surprise.

Mar 26 99 - 12:00pm
HM

"The Left Bank" enhances the fact that the mind is ones best sex organ. Keep it up Mr. Lehman.

Apr 13 99 - 11:00am
MT

In David lehman's poen called "Sexism," he makes a clear distiguishment between men and women. The first thing that struck me odd about this poem was that he is a man, so how can he know the woman's happiest moment in life? But what I really would like to make a point about is men and women are not different at all. We are all the same species and we all have the same thoughts and feelings. In fact, I think the only differance is our physical makeup. In fact, the only reason men and women may act differently is because as children we are set with steryotypes. A man is like a woman, just as a black man is like a white man. thank you

Jan 07 00 - 12:00pm
PM

It made me laugh at first but then it seemed all to true with the majority of men...

Feb 02 01 - 10:18am
L.K.

Your poems suck!

Now you say something

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