Poetry by CLS Ferguson

Awe for my Sleeping Child
 
You sleep on my chest
More soundly than I do in bed
The entire time we grocery shop
I’m just now awakening
Life is just beginning
Just as I am shedding the skin of who I used to be
My purpose is anew in you
 
I’ll defend your honor as did Poe’s Hop-Frog
In his orangutan suit
Against the king and his attacks against you
Setting aflame each hemline
Boot
                 Petticoat
                                Stocking
He stood eye to eye with
Escaping as he admired his destruction
 
You’re my Tripetta
We may feel dwarfed by this world
But at two months you’re already
Stronger than I’ve ever been
And strengthening me with each of your
Infectious smiles

​


He Said/She Said
 
In case I forget, he said, I love you.
I love you, she said, as if there was no one else in the world to love.
That’s how it should be, he said, and he kissed her pink mouth with his thick, brown lips.
 
I stayed for you, he said, I saw how upset you were, and I couldn’t leave.
But you fought so hard to win, she said.
I only fought to win you, he said, because I knew you were worth it.
And I will fight the rest of my life to prove you right, she said.
And she placed her ear atop his heartbeat and ran her fingers through his thick, black chest hair.
 
You’re doing too much, he said, as he stared at her pretty black dress.
You don’t like it? She said, twirling slowly in a circle.
I love it, he said, and she said, then it’s not too much.
 
You are, she said, my favorite.
I know that I am your favorite, he said, and you are my everything.
You love me as if I have never known what it was like to be loved before, she said.
Now I’m showing you, he said, with his fingers in her long black hair and his chocolate eyes on
​her sea foam emeralds.
I pray you never stop, she said.
Well, in case I forget, he said, I love you.
And she said, just don’t ever forget.

Bio: CLS Ferguson, PhD is a communication professor who has published many academic articles and two academic books. Her performance in Silence, which she co-wrote and produced earned best actress and best film awards. Her music video Secrets & Lies also earned accolades.  CLS has published poetry in Dirty Chai, Sheepshead Review, Drunk Monkeys, etc. Poetry collection God Bless Paul is out on Rosedog Books, chapbook, The Way We Were is out on Writing Knights Press, and collection Soup Stories is coming soon from Portage Press. She and husband Rich are raising their daughter and Bernese Mountain Border Collie Mutt. http://clsferguson.wix.com/clsferguson  

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