Sheryl St. Germain is an American poet, essayist, and professor, born 1951. St. German’s father, brother, and son died of substance abuse. She co-founded Words Without Walls, Words, a creative partnership between the Chatham MFA Creative Writing Program, Allegheny County Jail (ACJ), and Sojourner House, a residential drug and alcohol treatment facility for mothers and their children.
BLINDFOLDS, ROPES
Sheryl St. Germain
In this place of utter light and vastness
I have lit my soul with searchlights,
and cannot tell the limits of my fear or joy.
The truth is I miss your blindfolds and ropes,
those gifts I left with you.
In light you are gangly and red-nosed,
in dark you become the Beloved —
all breath, skin and tongue —
a truth no light would reveal.
Tonight when I close my eyes
the sky will fill with lovers
binding the wrists of lovers,
the night will tie its blindfold
over the earth’s eyes, and I will
dream of how to speak — oh
kiss me with lips I have to imagine;
hold me in a room I can’t escape.