My favorite erotic poet is Vallejo
who isn't exactly erotic but always makes me swoon
with his two most famous poems,
"Agape" and "Peidra Negra Sobre Una Peidra Blanca."
It's that quality of longing that poets have
way too much of,
and their terrible loneliness
that would like to say
as Vallejo does:
"I would come to my door,
I would shout to everyone,
if you are missing anything,
here it is!"
And I'd love to.
Yes, I'd love to go to his door
and make love to him,
perhaps on a Thursday in Paris
on a day of heavy showers . . .
I'd keep everyone from beating him,
those whom he has done nothing to,
(Why does the world want to beat our famous poets?)
my Vallejo, my own Vallejo
who lives deep inside me now
where he is safe at last,
though, of course,
he knows nothing about this . . .
-- Nin Andrews
(from The Best American Erotic Poems: from 1800 to the Present)
Nin Andrews's books include The Book of Orgasms, Spontaneous Breasts, Why They Grow Wings, Midlife Crisis with Dick and Jane, Sleeping with Houdini, and Southern Comfort. She also edited Someone Wants to Steal My Name, a book of translations of the French poet, Henri Michaux.
Nin Andrews will be the featured poet at the New School poetry forum this evening at 6:30 PM in room 510 of 66 West 12 Street in New York City. She will read poems for thirty minutes, then field questions from moderator and audience for an equal amount of time.
