Pole Dancers, Musing from the London British Museum, Mutable Matters

By Anna Levine

Pole Dancers

Image Courtesy of Katie Schenk (flickr.com)

Lovers
on a subway
ready to ride

Grip the pole and—

“Hold on, Baby. Hold on.”

We cling to
-gether

In seren
dip
itous
delight

“Where to?”

“Don’t know.”

No
cosmic explanation
reason for being
or specific destination
has brought us here

“Hold on, Baby. Hold on.”

Clinging
in a desperate
embrace of
love
lust
laughter
and longing
wanting
to believe

“Hold on, Baby. Hold on.”

We’re on a
Non-Stop
One-way
Express
Direct
You and me babe
To the end-
of the line

ride.

Musing from the London British Museum

"the world from here" courtesy of Iain Simmons (flickr.com)

Apollo,
god of Greece,
is mounted trunkless
in the British Museum

Head
cast in several pieces.
Hair, each lock coiffed.
Eyes inlaid.
Lips plated red.

To visit his leg,
you must travel to the Louvre
in Paris.

I stand here
in London.
My heart,
in the west.
My head,
in the east

And I know
how Apollo
must feel
scattered about
in bits
and pieces.

Mutable Matters

Cupid at the Philadelphia Museum of Art courtesy of Jeffrey Beall (flickr.com)

Did you know, he said
suspension in cars
is built on a system
of imaginary numbers?

I believed him.

But—
I opened the hood and stood
suspended
by the whirr and purr
of the illusion

Did you know, he said
movement is a deception
the flying arrow
remains motionless
despite our perception?

I believed him.

But—
I opened my heart
and stood motionless
waiting for cupid’s dart
to negate the notion
prove the emotion

And love, I asked,
also an illusion?

So he opened his arms
and pulled me in
to a field charged
with sweet illusions
where no matter
between us mattered
but our sweet
delusion

Anna Levine is doing a blog tour right now for her novel “Freefall“–check it out!  Born in Canada, Levine has lived in Israel for over 20 years.  Levine’s latest novel, “Freefall” was published with Greenwillow/Harper Collins. She has also published with Front Street/Cricket Books, and Karben Publishers. She has published award winning poems and short stories in American children’s magazines. Levine has lived in Europe and the United States. This summer she was a guest on a Writer’s Retreat in Val David, Quebec, Canada working on her next novel set in Italy. When not on a retreat, Levine is at home in Israel where she lives with her husband and two sons.