Maren Mitchell
COMPARE & CONTRAST: SEX, LUST & LOVE vs WRITING POEMS
Sex: whether with self or with another,
essential to the full range of human experience.
Poems: whether with self or with others,
essential to the full range of human experience.
Unlike the first stumble across sex,
the reach for our missing link, gamble on confirmation,
the first poem delivers only pleasure and fulfillment –
no retreat, misgiving, disappointment, retrial.
Lust: whether in mind or in practice, buttered popcorn for a box office hit,
essential to the full range of human feelings.
Poems: a prolific, never-ending urge
to hunt for and never receive full satisfaction,
promiscuous indulgence,
always wanting just one more new one.
Love: whether in mind or actions,
essential to growth of the human heart & soul,
rejuvenating twin to writing poems, objects of our permanent attention
about which we aspire to open and wrap all our senses.
Author’s Comment: What began as a light-hearted idea of comparing sex with writing poems, to show which was more enjoyable, developed into a point-by-point, calculated comparison with little humor. Not the poem I had envisioned.
Bio: Maren O. Mitchell’s poems have appeared in Southern Humanities Review, The Classical Outlook, Pirene’s Fountain, The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Appalachian Journal, The Arts Journal, and elsewhere. Poems are forthcoming in The Journal of Kentucky Studies, Sunrise from Blue Thunder, Japan Anthology and The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume V: Georgia.
Wild Goose Poetry Review 
Not what you envisioned but a poem for which you should feel full satisfaction!
An odd one, but variety helps ward off the years. Yes, a satisfaction! Glad you recognize it.
I wonder how the speaker of Larkin’s “A Study of Reading Habits” would respond to this one.
I doubt that the speaker would agree with this poem, but suspect that Larkin might have.
Maren, I’ve used the word “bliss” often in describing what happens when writing a poem, and have used the word “urge” and “impulse” but I never carried through on the comparison. You nailed it.
Nancy, so glad you agree. To me, a serious neck-to-neck race!
It is difficult to always be lighthearted about love or sex,
whether experiencing it, or trying to write a poem about it.
I did agree with most of your comparisons, and admire your
talent very much.
Thank you for agreeing with most of my comparisons, Carole. Interested to know which comparison(s) you disagree with???
Each reading brings a deeper meaning. (And I’m jealous of the “buttered popcorn for a box office hit. What a great image.)
Reading more than once? I am honored. (Who can resist buttered popcorn?)