The Shape of a Poem
Like flowers from first love,
we have pressed poems between the pages of this book.
Poems of every orientation, every preference.
Lean, shapely, voluptuous.
Poems shaped like an hourglass.
Those that look like pears.
And those that are thin enough to disappear on paper.
Poems proud, brash, loud, silent and shy.
Those that have come out of the closet
and those that do not even know about the existence of the closet.
Poems that shout their intent from rooftops
and those who gently nudge you.
Now they are ready to meet the world.
You hold them in the curve of your palm.
Some of the finest contemporary poetic voices from Bangladesh, Canada, India, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Scotland, the UK, and the USA make a compelling case for the pursuit of pleasure, for the excitement of the erotic.
When explored in a space of consent, the erotic is a formidable force. It is not an easy animal to fathom. Often misunderstood and mistreated, it is trivialised, confused with pornography, considered taboo, too bold or risqué. It is sometimes greeted with a whiff of disapproval and embarrassment and sometimes, even dismissed.
This erotic anthology celebrates sex and desire unabashedly. But it also seeks to makes a case for permission, for the celebration of all bodies, genders, and orientations. When it is from a place of consent, even a salt shaker passed across the table is erotic. Finding the erotic in the mundane is an often surprising, and always thrilling experience. That draught of water on a warm afternoon. The silence of snowfall. The anticipation. The gratification. That delight.
