Untutored Tongue I sing the peculiar Of necessity Because my voice is Ill-trained and, perhaps, Immature The great seas with their teeming undercurrents, The forests of insect indiscretion And the mountains that open their breasts to the Relentless snow – They are beyond me And you and your eyes Though close – they too Elude Therefore I rest my head In the crook of your knee And note the scales Of your heel and hope You will not be offended When you shake me off, My rough untutored tongue ________________________________________________________________________ Emanuel E. García, The Virtues of Calamity, One Hundred Poems, 2013 |