Those of you who attended our January meeting may have noticed an omission in my last post. When we met, we read a poem entitled Emotional Nudity that is attributed to a Bahamian-born poet named Geanti Lightbourne. When I began searching for the poem to include on this post, I came up with a hit on the poetryamerica.com Web site. But the poem appears to have been removed from the site.
Dogged as I am, I was able to find the poem that we read on someone’s MySpace page with the attribution to Geanti. BUT I also found another poem entitled True Love-No Regrets copyrighted in 2006 apparently by published poet Linda Ann Rigotty. The two poems are nearly identical. Will the real poet please stand up?
In any case, the poems use clothing as a metaphor for the emotions that can act as barriers in relationships. It is a sensual plea for a lover to remove these emotional garments in a moment of intimacy.
Since finding the poem(s) was so obscure and since I think it’s interesting to compare the two, I’m going to break from my habit of not reproducing poems on this page. However, I have included links to my sources.
If anyone can shed light on the mysterious origins of this poem and the true poet, please leave a comment.
Emotional Nudity
by Geanti Lightbourne?
Take your soft and loving hands and
Remove the mantle of mistrust from my shoulders.
Softly unbutton the silken gown
Of regret from my skin.
Come my love and remove the veil
Of heartache from my face and
Kiss these lips that were ordained only for you.
Confiscate the jewels of deception from
My arms neck and ears-discard my fears.
Feel the fabric of the chemise
Of my misgivings and set me free from it.
Kiss my naked shoulders honeyed with newfound faith
Liberated from doubt and the threat of neglect and obscurity.
My darling go further south and
Remove the thongs of this world’s
Hatred and prejudice from my hips and slide
Them slowly down to the floor where they can be no more.
Undress me until I am stripped bare of
The world’s evil and tainted essence until like
The day of my birth, I emerge beautiful untouched- unpoisoned.
Let this nude daughter of Eve stand
Before you liberated from the negative-
Pure and positive and free to melt into your loving embrace.
True Love-No Regrets
by Linda Ann Rigotty
Take your soft and loving hands and
Remove this distrust from your heart.
Softly unbutton the silken gown
Of regret from my skin.Come my love and remove the bad dreams
Of heartache and feel my face of kindness.
Kiss these lips that were ordained only for you.
Confiscate the jewels of deception from my life.Feel the fabric of the chemise.
Of my misgivings and set me free.
Kiss my naked shoulders for the faith.
Liberated from doubt and the threat of losing you.My darling go further south and embrace my treasures.
Remove the distrust from your universe.
Have your way but sharing your love.Them slowly down to the floor where there can be no more.
Undress me until I am stripped bare of my innocents.
The world’s too small for feeling emptyness and tainted essence.
This beauty, I emerge untouched unpoisoned.
The Poets' Notebook 