I Fell In Love With A Strange Man Poem by Flavia Richardson

I fell in love with a strange man's picture
In my experiments I have fallen for your touch
For your presence across the table
Imagining
The smell of your white cotton shirt
The sound of your shoes as you walk
The touch of your fingers on a teacup
The stare in your eyes

I fell in love with a strange man's words
In my search for profanity I have fallen
For stories of your existence
Imagining
The blue shades in your eyes
The smile on your lips
The neatness of your dark blue blazer
The close up eye-to-eye

I fell in love with a strange man's presence
In my attempt I have fallen
For the knowledge of you breathing
Imagining
Sharing of the same city air
Your footprints on each street
Our shadows meeting on a pavement

I fell in love with a strange man's voice
The slow flow of each sentence
The calming tone
The melodic enunciation
The enchanting clarity of your ideas
The errs rolling off the tongue

I fell in love with a strange man in my mind
In my imagination
On my laptop
On my journeys from work
Relaxing in my bathtub
Drinking cheap red wine
Smudging distorted words on a piece of paper

I fell in love with a strange man's shadow
In my journey I have fallen
For the collective memory this world has of him
The furniture that touched his body
The water that cleaned his sins
The doors that kept him from running
The institutions that educated him
The women that had kissed and loved him

I fell in love with a strange man's writing
Strokes of artistic pressure focused on a pen
Shapes of closed arches
Linear spaces and perfect gaps
Parallel rows, ornaments on paper,
Crafted ideas between the lines
Grave accents, origins of beauty,
Authoritative signatures,
Initials of love.


I fell in love with the strangest of man
A fallen darkness of night
A disused idea
A mystical euphemism
The strength of flexed muscle
The smoke of Cuban cigar
The taste of perfumed skin
Imagining
The loud sound of release startling my mind

I fell in love with a strange man
Naked touching of his existence
Pushing me against the wall
Pressing me into a book page
Burning me to ashes until I am nothing
Sacred prayers and rituals of induced love
Arrhythmic heart beats after the dance of my life