Misdirection

Valérie Déus

this place is strange and I am strange in it
this air catches at my nape
I notice, it’s darker than I remember
September to be
the way freeze commits its self
to my frame earlier and earlier
helps me forget I ever had a face
a version of me bobbing away above my shoulders
a bold lower lip works out a gesture

tomorrow, everyone will go home
to their strangest dreams
we’ll take the lead and remake ourselves
into more than neon lakes

the night slicks our hair and I think this is like sex
our tender/ rolls redirection near this soft dark landscape
the last place to be when wanting this much

Told

Valérie Déus

Valérie Déus

I tell something
told
I remember blue
I let time pass
And I am now both
simple and much
It’s called blame
but blue is
so that it gets
hair and under the skin
and I suppose
I bring blame
back from my faithful beloved
I traveled
in all blush-of-the-world
not dangerous
but an unknown red
I tell and see sorry
from a position of hope
and not of blame
but to plead and to let one
be visible and twists
I become bared and contuse
stuck in children’s fables
about a prince who has no doctrine here
the time is long but
whatever happens
the call will be soon
right after
I find home

Body

Valérie Déus

are you my lonely poem?
dance near the line breaks
in a fit of rage
arrange the pictures
according to sly and sex
in low light they almost slip away
an unfamiliar memory
hidden below your 24 hour edge
but you name the work a body
a curious life emerges
from blade of moon
a net of risk and promise
this empty space is not empty when one isn’t afraid
it is a placeholder filled with premonitions
and it’s all tied up in the definition of being.

Valérie Déus, a Haitian-American poet and English professor, lives in Minneapolis but has deep New York City roots. A collection of her poetry is due out from Is a Rose Press during 2017.

Poems © 2017 Valérie Déus. These poems also appear in The BeZine’s April issue, Celebration of interNational Poetry Month. Stop in at The BeZine to discover more poetry from all over the world.