When you look for a pulse, where do you check?
Your vulnerable wrists or your fragile neck?
Press your fingers against that soft, supple, skin
Feel your pulse – pumping out… pumping in
When you hand out compliments like little blue envelopes
Lashes, legs, lips, locks are all lauded
But what about that tender neck of yours?
It is forever forgotten and evermore doubted
However, it is around that very portion of skin
That rest rubies, emeralds, diamonds and sapphires
Snugly wrap scarves of silk, cashmere and satin
To warm you up like kindling Canadian camp fires
Close your eyes on a restless and stormy night
Night…
Nightmares contaminate even the spark of a thought
Hands grasp your neck in chokehold lethally tight
A switchblade slitting your throat or another shot sought
In the deadening dark leaving the little hairs on the back
Of your neck standing upright.
Let us not forget the predators who roam beyond hours
The ones who truly understand and appreciate that section of skin
The ones who bare their sharp incisors as their sign of power
Not hesitating to attack and dig right in
Vampires go for the bite on your neck, as we all know
My dad, a biology teacher, explained to me jokingly last year
Because that’s where your blood is constantly at flow
Thus, the reason why Damon and Edward always attack right there
Perhaps the vampire epidemic has run its course
But that doesn’t mean the value of the neck has perished with it
I think necks and the body need to file for divorce
So that they will be missed and their necessity finally becomes vivid
Kisses, warm gestures as well as other things
Are committed on the neck day to day
Bow ties, cologne and floral perfume all sting
The skin that wears them the best way
So while the only thing your neck can physically do is crane
And turn and nod and shake and strain
What matters more than what it does, is what it truly signifies
Power, fear, love, life, imagination and the beauty of the minimized
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I wrote this poem for writer's craft and we were supposed to write about a body part. Thinking that no one else would write about necks, I did. Turns out another guy in my group did too (go figure) but whatever haha. I didn't end up using this poem though because it's too fluent in rhymes for spoken word but here it is anyway - and I'm rambling...
Tell me what you think :)
