Poetry Monday: Alison Croggan

Though Alison Croggan may be better known for her marvellous fantasy novels The Books of Pellanor, she also has published a young adult novel, a novella, several libretti, is a noted theatre reviewer, and has seven published books of poetry. I've always known Alison as a poet and wasn't even aware of the Pellanor books until my mother brought them to my attention. For today's poetry "Monday" (or thereabouts), I'm featuring one of Alison's poems from her book The Common Flesh. One of the many things I like about this poem is how it works the creative metaphor - art, poetry, the power of language - into such a sexy and provocative piece of work. You can hear Alison reading the poem at The Poetry Archive by clicking on the title.


Seduction Poem

I want the slew of muscle, a less
cerebral meeting place: no word
but your male shout, the shirred
unpublic face and honest skin
crying to me, yes,
the mouthless, eyeless tenderness
crying to be let in.

Unbutton all your weight, like a bird
flying the night's starred nakedness:
put down your grammatical tongue, undress
your correct and social skin:
come white and absurd
all your language one word
crying to be let in.