Excerpt from Cole Swenson's "Noon"

The pages remind me of milk, and the words on it small sprinkles of chocolate that have been dashed into it that is left up to me to decipher. I may have a one track mind due to my new diet that my stomach has yet to adjust to but all in all, this is what I see.

The spacing of the words seem to make me feel at ease; free, before even reading the first stanza and preparing to unravel the underlying message the words hold. The breaks in between each thought and use of vocabulary instantly places me in a setting of intimacy, not necessarily romance. Specifically the words, "body" "hands" and "lip(s)" are repeatedly made reference to. Sensual, no?

The first page starts with a command and the narrator then is lost in his or hers own captivity into his or hers partner's body (of course the meaning is up for debate, this is just how my mind allows me to unravel this specific piece). Between the white sheets, thoughts are broken and a new world is revealed...
The top of the second page reads,

"And now the body is yours

and you fill it completely

what moved and say here:

what

and it moves

let me touch your lip..."

This is an example of the broken language I mentioned earlier. I feel as if the narrator is having a freeing moment, leading up to a possible climax? Who am I to say? However, this is my blog and these are my thoughts...I am free to interpret this piece however I may please, correct? Let us go on... :)


The two lovers are making both a physical and ultimately divine connection, their thoughts are not complete, in between motion is dead space filled with a fragment that utters out what may be lust and love and fascination all at once.

The end of the poem leads me to believe that everything that has happened previous to this stanza has been a pure dream or fantasy of some sort. The language has changed. It is lonely, it is no longer broken and tied into intimacy, it has learned of the reality that holds it down.