10 Sexy Poems To Keep You Warm in the Deep, Dark Night

It all started with The Cinnamon Peeler. I was pointed in its direction during a conversation about Michael Ondaatje, and have been thinking about it since- about the poem itself, and about poetry’s ability to *ahem* inspire without being explicit (or while being explicit, I mean hey, whatever blows your skirt up). What makes a poem sexy will of course depend on individual taste (heh), but my favorites involve high tension and sly metaphors, with the main action (usually) hidden behind a smart verbal wink. Let’s, as they say, get to it: 1. “The Cinnamon Peeler” by Michael Ondaatje Excerpt:

If I were a cinnamon peeler I would ride your bed And leave the yellow bark dust On your pillow. Your breasts and shoulders would reek You could never walk through markets without the profession of my fingers floating over you. The blind would stumble certain of whom they approached though you might bathe under rain gutters, monsoon.

2. “Hum for the Bolt” by Jamaal May (the sexiest poem about lightning you’re evah gonna read) Excerpt:

It could of course be silk. Fifty yards or so of the next closest thing to water to the touch, or it could just as easily be a shaft of  wood crumpling a man struck between spaulder and helm. But now, with the rain making a noisy erasure of this town, it is the flash that arrives

3. “Come Slowly- Eden!” by Emily Dickinson Excerpt:

Come slowly – Eden! Lips unused to Thee – Bashful – sip thy Jessamines – As the fainting Bee –

4. “Warming Her Pearls” by Carol Ann Duffy Excerpt:

Next to my own skin, her pearls. My mistress bids me wear them, warm them, until evening when I’ll brush her hair. At six, I place them round her cool, white throat. All day I think of her, resting in the Yellow Room, contemplating silk or taffeta, which gown tonight? She fans herself whilst I work willingly, my slow heat entering each pearl. Slack on my neck, her rope.

5. “Naming of Parts” by Henry Reed Excerpt:

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday, We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning, We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day, To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens, And to-day we have naming of parts. This is the lower sling swivel. And this Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see, When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel, Which in your case you have not got. The branches Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures, Which in our case we have not got.

6. “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” by Billy Collins Excerpt:

First, her tippet made of tulle, easily lifted off her shoulders and laid on the back of a wooden chair. And her bonnet, the bow undone with a light forward pull.

7. “The Hush of the Very Good” by Todd Boss Excerpt:

You can tell by how he lists to let her kiss him, that the getting, as he gets it, is good. It’s good in the sweetly salty, deeply thirsty was that a sea-fogged rain is good after a summer-long bout of inland drought.

8. Agricultural metaphors run amok. “Putting In the Seed” by Robert Frost Excerpt:

You come to fetch me from my work to-night When supper’s on the table, and we’ll see If I can leave off burying the white Soft petals fallen from the apple tree (Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite, Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea);

9. “He is more than a hero” by Sappho Excerpt: And a bonus! A fun, profane, probably-ok-definitely-NSFW Def Jam selection called “Dirty Talk” by Rives: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYGm1dTDa9M[/youtube]