{"id":2041,"date":"2018-07-10T19:32:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T19:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/?p=2041"},"modified":"2021-08-04T19:47:55","modified_gmt":"2021-08-04T19:47:55","slug":"room-for-the-nude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/2018\/07\/10\/room-for-the-nude\/","title":{"rendered":"Room for the Nude"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n\n\n

The movie is on mute so you can hear<\/p>\n

all the sounds we\u2019ll make. A montage<\/p>\n

of train stations and broken cogs, all quiet<\/p>\n

until you say how the ragamuffin\u2019s<\/p>\n

eyes are beyond beauty.<\/p>\n

How young<\/p>\n

do you want me? My shirt disappears<\/p>\n

and you squeeze me like I need to be sculpted,<\/p>\n

like you can wring out as many years<\/p>\n

as it takes.<\/p>\n

Our first taste in such a bare room,<\/p>\n

I try to lift the moment like a painting.<\/p>\n

In your calloused hands, I wait to come away<\/p>\n

a multifoliate smudge.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re not drawn<\/p>\n

as hairless nudes, you\u2019d have a hanging gallery<\/p>\n

of TVs, flashes of cherubic pornography,<\/p>\n

seizures of flesh and fluid<\/p>\n

as viral as your gluttonous hard drive.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The words lover and caress<\/p>\n

seem like profanities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We agree we\u2019ve never been<\/p>\n

too interested in consummation, but obsess<\/p>\n

over knowing everything naked.<\/p>\n

Strip by strip,<\/p>\n

the slow reveal of skin constellations, dreaming<\/p>\n

of a level-end bonus.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t say there was ever a time<\/p>\n

when I kissed a magazine cover<\/p>\n

because of a face.<\/p>\n

My sexuality never<\/p>\n

rolled out like a red carpet.<\/p>\n

Circling your navel,<\/p>\n

I need someone to tell me<\/p>\n

whether romance is a packaged snack<\/p>\n

or a delicacy.<\/p>\n

Either way, I know<\/p>\n

you wouldn\u2019t sell it to me.<\/p>\n

Fumbling over you on the couch,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m waiting for the truest want.<\/p>\n

Always confusing<\/p>\n

having desire with being desired,<\/p>\n

I wonder if I can only feed<\/p>\n

on the hunger I see.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I try to make you believe<\/p>\n

my gaping, as you stand tall<\/p>\n

and I buckle under your legs,<\/p>\n

as if every nerve ending<\/p>\n

has come to flower<\/p>\n

and you are just waiting<\/p>\n

for my full bloom<\/p>\n

of fireworks.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How these walls stay.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

How you\u2019ve grown.<\/p>\n

How I\u2019ve shrunk.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You exit yourself with such force<\/p>\n

and I remain doubly present, always<\/p>\n

too much ghost and never enough<\/p>\n

body.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Joseph Dante<\/strong> lives in Plantation, Florida with his husband and two cats. His work has been featured in Permafrost, South Florida Poetry Journal, The Rumpus, PANK, Corium,<\/em> and elsewhere. He was a finalist for the 2016 Lascaux Prize for Poetry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The movie is on mute so you can hear all the sounds we\u2019ll make. A montage of train stations and broken cogs, all quiet until you say how the ragamuffin\u2019s eyes are beyond beauty. How young do you want me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":384,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9926],"tags":[22233],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/384"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2048,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions\/2048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/requited\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}