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Conversion at the Cliff Edge of the Great Rift Valley
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
Beyond deodorant I smelled you…You.
You had the scent of maleness and the strength
Of thrusting. It was just as if you knew,
Had always known, that I would come at length
Like angels sent to Sodom. Tropic sweat
Of manliness imposed molecular
Insistence. In my nostrils fragrance met
Capillaries. They spurred a secular
Religion intimate and instant as
Desire for rape and holy as a saint
Surprised, stigmata zapped, muddy as jazz
On smoky deltas, martyrs with a taint
Of Christ inside their throats. Your black hair scent
…………
Compelled epiphany. I can’t repent.