Our parts of which we speak
by Bob McNeil
I enjoy the way your verbs
taste, stroke and titillate
my hut of flesh and its resident soul.
I endure the way your adjectives
desire to describe the details of beauty.
Adjectives are paintings of dawn:
they strike sulphur,
but they do not emblazon my vision with brilliance.
I revere the nouns that name
the person, place and thing that you are.
Every appellation I use provides
another reference to the benevolence of you.
I hate the pronouns assigned to design ourselves,
for enwrapping yourself in pink
won’t disguise the cries of your mannish side
and my anima is pregnant with a passion to reproduce.
I appreciate the conjunction that you have grown to be.
You are the “And” that facilitates my spirit’s state
By using the adhesion of compassion.
I adore you for the prepositions that grant these facts:
I am on a bed of beatitude with you.
We do what we want for joy’s geysers,
experiencing satisfaction after the flow.
I titter at the interjections
we use as illustrations of our jubilation.
The exclamations are sillier
than children chortling on a carousel.
I assert adverbially,
both you and I have become
rather pledged to the notion
of cherishing an emotion
without using its word.
Soundlessly appreciating that thoughtful space,
waiting for language to transport the topic,
our best sentiments on commitment are expressed.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I compose poetic stun guns and Tasers, weapons for the downtrodden in their battle against the opprobrious. My work is dedicated to one cause—justice.
IMAGE: “The Mountain” by Ed Ruscha (1998).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bob McNeil was influenced by the Beats and the Dadaists. Furthermore, even after all these years of being a professional illustrator, spoken word artist and writer, he still hopes to express and address the needs of the human mosaic.
PHOTO: Bob McNeil (left) with novelist Walter Mosley.
Lovely words ❤
Bob McNeil has once again aroused our imagination with this suggestive poem. It is absolutely beautiful! I envy whoever inspired McNeil’s to such depth of self-abandonment as he best describes his feelings for the person that inspired him. Well done my friend!
“I adore you for the prepositions that grant these facts:
I am on a bed of beatitude with you.
We do what we want for joy’s geysers,
Experiencing satisfaction after the flow.”
a must read for those who love words.
The Soulful, Passionate Expressionism of Bob McNeil-Brilliant!
I revere the nouns that name the person, place and thing that you are. Every appellation I use provides
another reference to the benevolence of you.
Beautiful!
Beautiful! I would love to hear this done as a spoken word piece. The influence of the Beats in your work is both clear and brilliant.
Respect for the spirit in you bro Bob, that is the magic and keep such a lay a hand on and a walk that can’t be elucidated with a plain tongue