Seems like maybe this is the right day to post a draft from a series I’m writing, on and off, of riffs and variations on that ancient anthology of erotic poems. Also, an intriguing batch of interpretive links is here. 

Canticle I 

Unhinge, God, my lover’s mouth

and let him kiss me

with the kisses of his mouth

so I will forget wine.

And let her kiss me.

And her word is a balm.

So I will forget wine

made from sweet palms.

And his word is a calm

across my skin. Bittered

maid, sweetened by palms

that trace a small river

across my sin. Embittered

dark, my lover, comely, incensed,

she traces a small river,

the henna between her breasts.

In the dark, lover, come to me. Incense

a hundred jilted sons of others.

The henna between my breasts

spills and spells a true word.

A hundred jilted suns are mothers

nursing infants on light

that spills and spells a true word:

beloved. Beloved, tonight,

coursing, intent, so light

with the kisses of our mouths,

let unloved be loved. Tonight

unhinge, God, your lover’s mouth.