Editing the Erotica Issue

Editing the Erotica Issue

Original Text

Susan Holbrook, Joy is so Exhausting (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2009): 10.

1Crocuses glistened. Sparrows throbbed.
2            Would he approve
3            Of her nipples of mauve?
4And that was what had first attracted him, her canvas flaps.
5A father of four, he is nevertheless kittenish.
6Her skirt had a stuffed look, which could only mean she was wearing ruffled panties.
7Oh, nutritious mound of sprouts.
8Richard and Regina had been friends for a long time.
9Dear editors: When I saw you were doing an erotica issue, I thought, woodylicious!
10And in the velour pantsuit of evening, even the sandflies laughed to see their joy.
11Richard throbbed. Regina glistened.
12In the land of Zamore, mailmen had a dual function.
13'Oh, excuse me, I thought everyone was gone for the night,' she says, foaming at the ears.
14Her heart throbbed, and the surgeon saw that it was glistening in there.
15    'Quickly! More crumpled wet sheets!'
16He carries me upstairs under one arm, like a chicken.
17            Left a hickey as big as a toonie,
18            Monday acted like he never knew me.
19Dear editors: I have been waiting years to share my expertise in this very special field of writing.
20Are you even glistening? I'm throbbing to you.
21Oranges, all over.

Notes

4] flaps: pendants to a garment or a hat. Back to Line
9] woodylicious: woody-delicious (where a "woody" is slang for an erect penis), a neologism. Back to Line
10] velour: velvet (French). Back to Line
12] Zamore: play on "it's amore" (Italian)? Back to Line
17] hickey: skin-sore caused by a persisting kiss.
toonie: two-dollar coin (Canadian). Back to Line
21] Oranges: a description of her full, succulent, curvy body. Possibly an allusion to the "members of a former cult known chiefly for its belief in sexual freedom, led by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (d. 1990) and so named because of their orange robes" (OED, "orange," n.1, S5, cf. "Orange People"). Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2011
Rhyme
unrhyming
Form
prose
Special Copyright

Copyright © Susan Holbrook and used by permission of the poet. Authorization to republish this poem must be obtained from her in writing.