Incubus IV
It’s perplexing
that the incubus is still
after all these nights
a mystery to me, with his
rippling heat, his sudden chills
and I to him
the last unknown.
Tonight he’s here to play his games,
oh the same games so sweet and heavy
with desire I can barely carry them
to the last decimal.
I don’t choose to resist; resistance
only teases. Besides,
he keeps me too busy to care, while he
recites beneath my breath the half-made spell
he's come to fetch my blood to cook.
I know he wants to
catch me in a foolishness
even greater than the one that calls him here
but I am sly, slyer than I was
before he seared that first split hoofprint on my breast,
before we danced tail to tail under the cracked moon
before he claimed on smoky contractual clauses
with just a trace of suphur-tinged regret.
No, he won’t catch me
till he turns his back and finds
I’m wound where he had no idea
I could bind.
February 2012
Posted for Fireblossom Friday at Real Toads
The inimitable Fireblossom hosts today at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, and her theme is temptation, or perhaps confession, or both. I'm obviously too perplexed to tell.
This is a companion piece to Incubus, Incubus II, and Incubus III
I expect to be invited to a coven at any minute!
ReplyDeleteVery nice. I love the revelation, with the last say, and the last bit of power.
ReplyDeleteWhew, truly this chills me! I am glad it is morning and the wind is not blowing outside.
ReplyDeleteThe serial treatments of this Devil with Blue Shoes allow us to observe the history of a desire, each poem a chapter in a larger book that finishes when it's done with us (not the other way around). And the speaker should be wiser at this game -- and is -- and yet the nature of desire is confounding, its magic fooling every magician. When we think we have it, it has us; when we think we're done, it laughs. Can't live with it, can't live without it; And like Rhiannon, the greatest surprise is finding out who's seeking who. Thus is the incubus drained. Go figure. Stellar. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteOh I'm sure he'll be back for a refill, that being his nature--and then there's that contract...kinda hard to litigate with the Arch Fiend. ;_) Thanks for reading B. Can't get to your entry.
Deleteall too real...glad you bound it up
ReplyDeleteYou have such a richly honed style. Very much appreciate your skill and talent.
an interesting little riddle in that last stanza there hedge...seared the first cloven footprint on my breast is def a chilling line
ReplyDeleteWitchy! Turnabout is fair play, so they say. I love all of these incubus poems (of course...the Succubus would stop speaking to me if I didn't), and this one has no shortage of fantastic (in both the common and the dictionary sense) images and twists. I the deliciously disturbing notion of what he needs in order to cook his spell, and I love the dancing tail to tail under a cracked moon. But it is the sly turning of the tables at the end that is the most wicked, and therefore best.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for being part of FBF! It wouldn't have been the same without you.
Wow! I don't suppose it gets any darker or more secret than an incubus temptation!
ReplyDeleteI love the dark temptation ~
ReplyDelete"before he seared that first split hoofprint on my breast,
before we danced tail to tail under the cracked moon
before he claimed on smoky contractual clauses
with just a trace of suphur-tinged regret."
wow, i really like the strength of that last stanza.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marian, for your support, and comments on Facebook. Much appreciated. Glad you liked this one, it's been a fun series.
DeleteCat and mouse games with an incubus! Love it! And it sounds like you may have won!
ReplyDelete"I'm wound where he had no idea I could bind." I read this right after Fireblossom's. One could skulk away in defeat, you two are so good. But I wont:) I love your writing, kiddo. You are way good!
ReplyDeleteWow- love the change of course towards the end. I think we've all known an incubus to some degree... at least I have. It is a spell, that's for sure... or insanity.
ReplyDeletehttp://lkharris-kolp.blogspot.com/2012/02/cant-you-feel-it.html
Cleverly written with a touch of chill...a temptation to go back and read again and again...and again.
ReplyDeleteExemplary, mood-pervasive work - everything works in this.
ReplyDeleteLove the tail to tail. Giving as good as getting! K.
ReplyDeleteSlyer than you were... but are you slyer than him?
ReplyDeletewith just a trace of sulphur-tinged regret. This line, sheer brilliance.
Enjoyable read.
I don’t choose to resist; resistance
ReplyDeleteonly teases.
Not many people are that honest about what tempts them. The photo is chilling and the words match!
I agree with Dave. That's the line that got me, too, Hedge: "with just a trace of sulphur-tinged regret" is indeed brilliant.
ReplyDeleteK
Wow, what a piece to come back to! I had to read all the other Incubus pieces after this.
ReplyDeleteOf course I was picturing my lovely succubi that I tend not to resist. ;)
"before he claimed on smoky contractual clauses
ReplyDeletewith just a trace of suphur-tinged regret." love that.