Jacquelyn “Jacsun” Shah, Cincinnati-born, has lived in New Jersey; London; and Mumbai, India. She currently resides in Houston, Texas. Education: AB–Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude; MA; MFA; PHD––English/creative writing. Publications: poetry chapbook (small fry) & full-length poetry book (What to Do with Red); memoir (Limited Engagement: A Way of Living); individual poems in journals. She was Gleam: Journal of Cadralor’s 2023 Pushcart Prize nominee. An iconoclast, she often combines cultural critique and humor in her work.
It Began, and Lingers
It began slowly, that love
the dawning as indistinct
as morning mist
nudging me here and there
quietly crowding my senses
I’d see your tongue
flick over lips to moisten
hot, dry skin (divulging
a thickness of feeling?)
I’d hear your clusters of words
pulsating rhythms
impressed by the sense
aroused by the pitch
I thought I could taste
your fingertips
as my imagination drew you
to me
It began slowly, my love
for you, winding its way
through shadows, spawning
cool green moments
My own perfume awakened me
I wondered if it reached you
Now I always sense your approach
watch the controlled pace
of your movements, pulled
by the spread of your shoulders
aware of the pure
indulgence I allow myself
I like the quick sardonic smile
that gilds your point-blank features
your harmony of arrogance
and self-effacement
the tautness of the cloth
across your legs
Away from you, I give myself
what only the imagination can give
creating you as lover
recreating over and over
a first touch
It began slowly, my love, emerging
from a well I thought was dark and dry
to rush at last with the force of a stormy sea!
A starry round, a loop and up
to you I come, then down
down, too long, too long
then up in a dizzy, darting path
through days and days and days
of you
It began slowly, that love
and lingers
like the taste of cool mint
It ruffles me
like a summer breeze
when I least expect it
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