While You Were Gone

January 2013 | back-issues, poetry | 9 comments

While you were gone
We talked
We touched
We slid melting
Ice cubes over
Sweat slick thighs
While you were gone
We danced barefoot
To the little radio
In the kitchen
Naked
Ate chocolate chip
Cookies and licked
Crumbs off our faces
Together
While you were gone
We laughed
Softly and hard
As the light fell
We sat face to
Face and fingered
Eyelashes
Until
With an unwarning whir
You returned
In blaze of light and
Blaring voice
And caught us
In reimpowered
Sixty inch eye
Shamed separate
we covered ourselves
And resumed
Our silent watch
Power restored

by Pearl Ketover Prilik

Pearl Ketover Prilik, freelance writer/psychoanalyst, is a believer in the spark that flickers within each and connects all. She has three nonfiction books published, was editor of a post-doc psychoanalytic newsletter and lately, editor/contributor of two collaborative international poetry anthologies.

9 Comments

  1. Claudette on January 2013 at 12:46 pm

    Love it, Pearl. It says so much about our modern American life and how we are tamed and commanded by a convenience that was orginally meant to only improve our lives.

    • pearl ketover prilik on January 2013 at 5:10 pm

      Thank you Claudette – I am delighted with your interpretation! I so very much appreciate your stopping by to comment :)

  2. Dr. Nurit Israeli on January 2013 at 6:47 am

    So beautifully said! I can literally feel the pain of the “silent watch” and see the comforting beauty of the inner world “while you are gone”…

    • pearl ketover prilik on January 2013 at 5:11 pm

      Aw Nurit – I am so very pleased that you enjoyed and delighted that you took the time to leave a comment. Thank you. :)

  3. S.E.Ingraham on January 2013 at 2:30 pm

    I commented on FB that this was a slightly risqué poem, and it is, but of course – coupled with the title and the ending, it’s so much more … wonderful in both instances … congrats

  4. Barbara Ehrentreu on January 2013 at 4:28 pm

    Loved the flow of this and the personification of an object to which we are all addicted!! Very clever and beautiful images. I loved the lines:
    “We slid melting
    Ice cubes over
    Sweat slick thighs”

    • pearl ketover prilik on January 2013 at 5:14 pm

      Thank you Barbara – happy you enjoyed those melting ice cubes :) I so very much appreciate your stopping by and leaving me with a smile at your enjoyment :) Thank you again

  5. pearl ketover prilik on January 2013 at 5:12 pm

    Sharon – Pleased that you enjoyed the risque edge and humbled by your “wonderful” comment :)
    Thank you.

  6. Linda G Hatton on January 2013 at 3:57 pm

    Love this, Pearl. So sensual and sad all at once. Lovely.

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