The Closed Eyes of the Ravished
John Emil Vincent

posted Nov 11, 2008

Asleep, or ecstatic, let them be.
Faces topographical with pleasure.

They’ve been. And seen.
Too soon. But not too late.

Their eyes don’t roll up
when their lids click closed.

Spare them knowing
knowing won’t spare them.

©

John Emil Vincent is the author of John Ashbery and You and Queer Lyrics. A poet and critic, he is Associate Editor of the Massachusetts Review and teaches at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.

Vincent’s poem “In the shadow, in the house” also appears in this issue.