OCCASION POEMS

DIANE CHRISTIAN

BLAZEVOX[BOOKS]
Buffalo, New York

Occasion Poems by Diane Christian
Copyright © 2019 Published by BlazeVOX [books]

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without

the publisher’s written permission, except for brief quotations in
reviews. Printed in the United States of America

Interior design and typesetting by Geoffrey Gatza

Cover Art: The cover photo is by Bruce Jackson. Diane Christian sits on
Peggy Guggenheim’s marble Byzantine throne in the garden of her
museum, Venice, May 2019.

First Edition
ISBN: 978-1-60964-358-4

BlazeVOX [books]
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Kenmore, NY 14217
Editor@blazevox.org

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 Birth Wishes

“the day of death is better than the day of birth and

the wise man takes it to heart,”
—Ecclesiastes

even sacred scripture

errs

happy day

9
 like trees

we thicken

as we age

10
marriage

we
is the one
two become

we
undone
is one, one

11
 time is the bandage

love the balm

we mortal wounds

Alternate endings

we heal we pick at the scab

irritate
it will never heal

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 who the I

& who the you

in

I love you

therein all the tales / tails

13
In Milton’s Paradise Lost

Adam & Eve’s conversation

mirrors their state

before the fall

it’s loving, full, polite

after
blaming, silent, rude

before the fall

sex is erotic

after, animal

style
tells

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 for two verbal people
we quarrel queerly
icing into silence
righteous and angry
until we melt
and warm each other

15
 divorce

we came together
we came apart

to wit
we’re split

(shit)

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 Let’s say
We loved until death parted us
& skip the autopsy

Let’s say
I love you to the wind,
The magnolia, the windows

Let’s say
I love you, goodbye

And not turn back or bitter

I love you

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 cuckolds of the world,

unite

fight

guilt trips

& fuck fantasies

& odious comparings

it’s the infidel’s

ego problem

our bad luck

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 A man I like (who calls me his confessor)

tells me bitterly

that the Catholic Church

has taken his wife’s humanity

by which I understand

sexuality

whereas

he himself

despoiled it

cheating

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 “What can you do?”

said Sophia Loren

sex goddess & wife of straying Carlo Ponti

Good question

not much

it turns out

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‘winning’ is not my favorite figure

especially for love

but human beings are cruel

she wins

I lose

(you too

my view)

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