Perry S. Nicholas

The Unveiling

                When the time comes,
                Will we want to take off our masks? Poet Rachel Hadas

I’m not ready to remove mine.
I like that you have to work hard

to understand my tone, read my eyes,
wonder if we should hug,

question if our hands should touch,
continue along the path of not-quite-knowing

which side of the wall we stand,
or whether we will ever join forces.

When the veil lifts and we’re all the same,
I won’t be able to discern how strong

you were during the immoral reign
of a maskless face peering out of Pandora’s box.

It makes me believe maybe I don’t need anyone
to make me mindful and mouthless.

These days, I still dream you wearing a disguise,
dark eyes squinting, air-kissing my cheeks.


No Known Explanation

               the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses—e.e.cummings

I’ve grown tired of explaining sonnets,
how they alternate rhyme, force themselves
into meter, search for a turn that doesn’t
sound so contrived, but still sings true.

Let me say it this way:
I’d rather hold you without words,
explore spaces and silences, fill
tiny crevices we leave out of hesitancy
and flowery getting-to-know-yous.

Lovely is as your loveliness does--
right now, it shames me to admit I’m a writer.
Your eyes take the place of any resolution,
curve of your back tells a deeper story.

We’ve found what we wish to be in this moment:
a quiet couplet needing no known explanation.


Done The Buttons Up Wrong

A phrase lifted from
a Japanese writer sums up exactly
what may have gone awry

in all the relationships I have fucked up.
Or should I not view it that way, but,
as one suggested, I was not lovely enough.

I’ve noticed more than one woman
in my life has taken to using
the word lovely to describe

just about everything: lovely day,
lovely word, lovely feelings,
lovely the way you used to touch me.

As you squeeze into your lovely bodice,
I fumble to unbutton the back
of your A-line dress, try again and again,

‘til we admit we will fail forever.
It’s like this: we simply done the buttons up wrong.


About the Author

Perry S. Nicholas is a professor emeritus of English at SUNY at ERIE in Buffalo, N.Y. where he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award and the President’s Outstanding Teacher Award. He has published one textbook of poetry prompts, three full-length and seven chapbooks of original poetry, along with two CDs of poetry. He has hosted 6 poetry venues over the years in the WNY area, and he has read his work in Woodstock, Kingston, Albany, NYC, Plymouth MA, and Athens, Greece. He has been interviewed online with Stockbridge, MA library and Queens College, NYC. You can see his work at www.perrynicholas.com.

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