Learning to Love the Pain
Hit me.
Like you mean it.
If you do it just right,
You will hear me sing
With each searing sting.
Bring me to life
When you whip me.
Sipping on sweet, happy
Tears of delight. It’s not just
My night, or yours.
It’s ours.
So please,
Make me your whore.
Teach me to love this pain,
As we delve into arts
That will make me go insane.
Let Me Be Your Demon
There’s too much order to your desire.
Unyielding restraint on rules
That don’t do much for you.
Or me.
The halo and wings have you
Clipped from the worlds you
Refuse to see.
It’s all black and white.
You lack vision and sight
To the pleasurable delights of the night.
I don’t want to start a fight
That’s too easy to win.
I think you’d like a little sin.
Oh how it would make you feel the
Scorching and searing touch of the sun.
Oh if only you’d allow such fun.
But yet you run.
Run from what lies beneath.
I’m not your friend.
I’m a fiend.
Don’t defy what’s meant to be.
If you want to go,
You can leave.
But you don’t—and you know why.
Your mind can tell any lie it wants
But your heart can’t front.
It wants what it wants.
And it wants me to do all the
Nasty and unorderly things.
So let me be your demon
To let your body truly sing.
Naked Poetry
Please,
Leave your pleasantries and formalities
At the place we no longer visit.
I want your pen and paper bare
And ready for us to write tonight.
We begin with raw, honest vernacular
Enticing each sense until your
Skin is riddled with goosebumps.
I don’t want it dirty,
I want it to be filthy.
Smeared in only what can be described as
Metaphors meticulously chosen to
Connect each other until only breath sets us free.
Dive into the ink with me
Until we can’t see—only feel.
Red lips remain as they’re used to
Paint the bodies in delicate crimson seas.
Taking the time to find the rhythm
Of my partner’s heartbeat.
After we’ve finished,
We’re left reading it over and over
Marveling at our lyrical masterpiece.
Biography
Tyler Jones (he/him) is a Black poet/writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. He graduated from Western Carolina University with bachelor’s in English and minor in Creative Writing. He currently works as a preschool teacher and occasional music journalist/podcaster for CentralSauce. He’s finishing his first poetry compilation, Obsidian Sun.