Raymond Luczak

VENUS DE MILO

Of Parian marble I hold my pose,
armless and stiff, begging you to agree
to a kiss. Rising out of the debris
where I'm reborn, we'll embrace without clothes
and let your sculptor's fingers caress skin smooth
as I let out a thousand-year-old gasp.
My one arm will keep you close, stilled in clasp,
until you brush lorn dust off me to soothe.
My fingers will braid each strand of your hair
until your face will be all I can't miss.
Our breasts firm shall graze softly with a kiss
as I hum Sappho's songs gleeful whole where
at last I can step off the pedestal
and find you startlingly shaped in crystal.

Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of more than ten books, including Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life (RID Press). His four collections of poetry include St. Michael's Fall (Deaf Life Press), This Way to the Acorns (Tactile Mind Press), Mute (A Midsummer Night's Press), and Road Work Ahead (Sibling Rivalry Press). His novel Men with Their Hands (Queer Mojo) won first place in the Project: QueerLit 2006 Contest. A playwright and filmmaker, he lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His web site is www.raymondluczak.com.