By Noel A. Ihebuzor and Susan L. Daniels
In every straight and curving path of life
the interaction of opposites flows, friction,
its opposition
a delicate assurance of traction,
resistance and grip, always present
allows us to stand and move
same resistance slows and stops us
allowing motion, yet retarding it
the rasp of surface against surface,
smooth against rough, rough to rough,
smooth to smooth; each raises heat,
awakens a force
moved into being by edge scraping edge
the gliding plane
our movement through air as friction
the soaring heart,
the pounding heart, ventricle and atrium
pumping, pulsating and pushing life blood,
in never stopping motion,
constantly overcoming friction and resistance,
harp strings tremble, plucked and stroked by knowing
fingers, the wailing saxophone,
the streaking trumpet,
the tickling tinkling piano strokes,
slides, glides, and breaks its chords
all raising hammers to strings
and frictioned strings to sound
the whispered violin
all engineered friction fusing with air,
music born of friction, peaks and troughs of sound
throb in our ears
the ship slicing through waves,
opening and parting them in bowed surge
the wetted measured friction
has the waters parting, gushing, rushing round
singing in joyous roars that fill, fulfill, and enflame
basking mermaids slithering and lulling in the waves
of plunging passion
our fingertips, too, on skin, are friction
we call pleasure, touches we arch under
the language of groans and sighs also moaned friction
of heated air rasping vibrating cords
in the throat, just so
and then tensing to yes.
the pleasure of the plough plunging deep,
digging deep into gripping soil
gratefully opening up to tilling, for seeds of life
to be planted, so that in season, a rich harvest would birth
and how our voices rejoice, secret yielded as fruit
the shared complicity in
friction and pulling,
plowing, plunging and planting
the stone grinder, the blunt edge,
engage in perfect frictional resistance,
sharpening, short lived stars shooting and flying dazzle,
heat rising to combustion points,
sparks flying with each roll, the spinning grind
the resistance of the pool
the waiting surface tension
the perfect contours of its ribbed surface
pierced by the perfect dive,
the ripples and return heave of frictional resistance
the suckling suctioning into parted spaces, bubbling,
warming and enfolding heat, in the cool dive defeating friction, thawing,
how resistance melts down
into dissolving softness,
like a warm bread knife,
pressed deep into yielding butter,
soon bathed in golden cream….
the touch as fingers run through skin tense,
the kissing caress, lips slowly rubbing singing skin
bodies locking, unlocking, interlocking,
passions painted in colors of friendly wrestlers
locked in a tussle of mutual entanglement and enlargement,
grasping, clutching, gripping
skins toned, glistening, unchaining and liberating
expanding voices, accelerating motions of
perpetual ebbs and flows, surges and suctions
hurrying to a waiting harbor, destroying energy in liberating bliss
and incomprehensible scribbles
on the resisting vibrating surface of the bewitched air
all need your collaboration
demanding energy to overcome
though energy would be felt,
drowned in flowing pleasures
without friction there can be no pleasure
stuttered, stalled, sullen and static
journeys without boundaries
life a languid limp limbo
resistance and restrainer
you increase work and heat
liberating positive energy in seasons of amity
but when time and pride corrode the good
and anomie sets in
and thorn weeds sprout and spike in polluted hearts
painful friction, spawn and install in stubborn hearts
spout-spawning spiraling masses of negative energy,
spurning joy, acerbic simmer, toxic swelters, choking
as corrosive friction multiplies and you deepen your roots
the good begins to dissolve, the ugly enlarges
our edges dry and wear down;
stripped tongues heavy and cracked like warped wood,
hearts unmoved,
and our communications collapse
as enlarging frictions fetters and freezes the feet of amity
to resist and retard the swelling of heart
and bodies that once vibrated and throbbed as one
***And here we are, at our last piece in the fizzy feelings/fuzzy physics series…sigh. I will miss it, but think Noel and I close it here with a flourish. Still feeling a little warm over here, rereading it myself 🙂
Thanks again to Noel, my partner in poetry and co-creator, for such gorgeous use of the language!
Susan Daniels Poetry 