From the Editor: For something a little different this Valentine’s Day, we are happy to introduce our readers to a long-time friend of Hormones Matter, Nick Marco. Nick was raised internationally and received his M.A. in 1971 from Johns Hopkins University, where he also served as university artist and scholar-in-residence. He mentors poets and book authors on the ‘Net; has poetry published there and in print. He has written magazine-journal-news articles, authored some 17 published books, winning two Hollywood options, two national awards for adult non-fiction. He lives in Las Vegas now where poet-peers once voted him Vegas’ best “classic” poet and his “Medicine Show” Vegas’ outstanding performance poem. From 2006-2008, Nick organized and co-hosted monthly street spoken word and music events at First Fridays. And he is married to the esteemed and much missed, Lana Hanson.
Let’s take a day to remember the beauty in our lives. Happy Valentine’s Day from Hormones Matter.
Thorns and Daisies
Nick Marco 2008
I bedded phantoms, dun-blossomed and thorned,
whose wraith-yens wracked my rest, fingernails pricked
and teeth gouged my real skin—yes, I’d been warned:
Illusions might meld plush perceptions, tricked
to lurk in silk-lined coffins smeared with red—
canned minor-key cellos puncture my ears,
digitized lies slice heart-aimed words that bled,
“luv” CDs drone to narcotize death-fears.
But now you’ve come, and near a ground-low fire
you chant high climax-cries I crave to clutch.
These petals from your tongue I never tire
to hold, nor do my veins bruise at their touch.
I nurse no scars while your lips heal my two:
Tonight, on daisies’ white I’ll sleep… with you.
Still-Dark, Half-Dreams…
Nick Marco, April 2013
For L.H.
…we lie, one warm curve; my chest,
its night-sweat fading, damps
your back, this arm bras
your breasts, and first
light hardness hunts
your cheeks below;
my fingers sift your pillowy
hair through the tangled
tail of the dappled
cat who thrums
above our
waking…
