Blazon — Summary

Dave BontaRomantic

To her leg in lace her rings her after-play her heat her full pear her lost temple her art I see my way.

Show the whole poemHide the poem

Learn Poems app

Try the Learn Poems app

Everything from the website trainer, and more: new exercises, voice recording and sharing, reminders, quick review.

The title points to a blazon, an old poetic form that catalogues a beloved's body part by part. Here the speaker does exactly that, listing a leg in lace, rings, heat, a "full pear," and more. But the twist is in the grammar. The whole list hangs on the final line, "I see my way," so each item becomes less a thing admired than a landmark that guides him.

The mood is intimate, sensual, and a little hushed. "After-play" and "heat" suggest desire and its afterglow, while "lost temple" and "art" lift the body into something almost sacred. A temple is a place of worship, and calling it "lost" hints at wandering, longing, or something half-remembered.

The speaker seems devoted and slightly humbled. He doesn't claim to possess her; he follows her. Desire here works like a map, and the poem's short, stacked lines feel like steps taken one at a time toward the final, quiet arrival.

Read also

More by Dave Bonta

All poems
ContemplativeDave Bonta

Plea bargain

I hear half a beat of drum to serve time have half a hope in the meantime praise God
DreamyDave Bonta

Cibola 3

I awake in the dark and shake free of sheets & blankets, of down-filled quilt. The rituals of waking– the long, hot shower, the coffee–give
ContemplativeDave Bonta

In good light

On a maple’s pale bark, a zigzag ladder—old tooth-marks from a wandering snail? Green islands of moss