Sometimes I smile (13): On the Brink of Adultery

 On the Brink of Adultery
(not at Dover Beach)
He says it’s natural, that blinked-
back cliff-top urge to jump
and free-fall into dead space
as air rushes a vacuum.
Longing pulls us to sure gaps
between words, hands, lips –
to lunge. From firm ground
to forbidden sounds, fleshed.
Even before I’m wracked
by rocks’ sharpened teeth,
the dive’s shock rips deep.
Abrupted, sky spills.

“Longing pulls us to sure gaps
between words, hands, lips –
to lunge.”

Temptation, temptation everywhere… I often think that those who have never been tempted, not even the slightest, must either be good at self-delusion or avoidance. Whereas being tempted seems quite natural, following temptation is of course a different, and a potentially altogether more dangerous and hurtful, decision – as this poem explores.

Sex and love are two very different things, though we may often choose to tie them together. Trust is important, and breaking trust is hard for most of us to recover from. I’ve never seen much point in po-faced about real life though; we’re all human and I do believe that relationships have their own unique natural life span – be that several months, years…or whole lifetimes.

‘Not at Dover Beach’ references Matthew Arnold’s poem ‘Dover Beach’, a poem that I return to a lot for many reasons — the sea/nature’s immensity, our small place within this world, the minuteness of my own pains when viewed in the bigger picture/from a wider perspective…
 

Discussion Points

Does framing this poem’s potentially destructive scenario using a conceit (rather than a more ‘real life’ example) narrow or widen its scope? Is a poem harder or easier to read when it allows the reader some distance from strong emotions? Does this change a poem’s potential impact?

Inspiration/Writing Prompt

Take the most important belief or value that you – or a fictional character – cling onto and structure your/their life or relationships around. Think of a real occasion – or create a fictional scenario – in which this is put to the test, or even broken. What happens and how do you/they deal with it?

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‘Sometimes I smile’ is a Substack series combining individual poems from my collection plenty-fish (Nine Arches Press, 2015) with a ‘poem biography’ about it, including points for potential reader discussion and writers’ prompts.

(NB The book version of Sometimes I smile that is available on Amazon doesn’t include copies of the actual poems, just the biography, photo and prompt elements.)