Define erotic...

[average gina]

I have a few poems that describe erotic things but not explicitly. Here is one of them:

If you drink in my fire
Would it cool you off?
The aura of your volcanic passions singes so
That lava could only quell the fervor
That I feel moments before you appear.
I distinctly recall frigid air cooling my breath
Before I sensed your approach
Suddenly a tepid atmosphere
Makes my cheeks feel warmth
And the temperature rises with each step you take
Closing in on my space.
I shudder to conceive that no other materials combust
For your hands burn at your touch.
I feel the charred scars your skin leaves time after time
Touch me again.


The poem I have in mind describes a climax. When read, you know what it is but it does not express anything overtly sexual... I guess I should put it here for a more clear opinion:

All things are experienced in all ways
When she is with him like this.
She trembles everywhere
As the frigid molecular icicles pelt her
Then his fervent heat melts the icicles
Then the icicles ease the heat
A teasing, tormenting, beautiful circle,
Each cycle moving at the speed of life
And within each passionate stroke.
This seals her fate within her essences
As she tries to mentally define this power
As she tries to mentally define this hunger
As she tries to mentally define this completion
Of five senses of two bodies
Existing as one entity.
You are me
I am you
I would do anything for you
I would live for you
I would kill for you
I would die for you
I would
I
You
We
We are
Are
Is
And then it happens.
An ignition is lit where she connects with him.
She feels a ripple of earthquakes.
She feels a ripple of explosions.
She feels a ripple of
Him
Her
Himherhimherhimherhimherhimherhimherhimherhimherhimherhimher
Spasms explore each atom of her.
A tumultuous shiver implodes.
A tumultuous shiver explodes.
She rides each wave joyously with her two surfboards
One mental, one physical.
Thankful that breathing is automatic
Because she cannot, at this moment, remember how.
The ravaging moment slowly subsides within her senses.
All things are experienced in all ways
When she is with him like this.


You see what I mean? Is this considered an erotic poem?

me

 

[minsue]

Defining erotic is about is easy as defining obscenity. If you find it erotic, post it as an erotic poem. The opinions of others will vary, so go with your gut.

Personally, I could see either poem being posted in either category. It's far too personal to define.

- Mindy, feelin' oh-so-helpful tonight

 

[Angeline]

Hiya Gina. I like your poem a lot and I think it's erotic.

I think the best erotic poems are more suggestive than blatant. If you leave nothing to the reader's imagination it's not, to me, really great poetry. Well...there are some writers who can carry it off but not many. Denis Hale writes some blatantly erotic poetry, for example, (Hi Denis ), and he writes wild crazy quirky interesting poetry at the same time BUT there's lots of other stuff going on in his poems, too.

This is one of my favorite erotic poems. It's not blatantly sexual in the least but it's about hunger and wanting in the most sensual way. To me, that's erotic poetry.

Love Sonnet XI
Pablo Neruda

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.
Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.
Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day
I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,
your hands the color of a savage harvest,
hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,
I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,
the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,
I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,
hunting for you, for your hot heart,
like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

Great thread, gina--very interesting question.

 

[sandspike]

Erotic

It's all in your mind. If you find it erotic, it is. I think your
climax poem is erotic, and lasts a long time, you are lucky.
The fact it isn't full of four letter words is cool. You sat down
and worked on it, probably more than a draft or two.
My climax poem: Bang
Bang
Cool.....
Yep, you are lucky to find so much in the act.

 

[The Mutt]

I understand your confusion. I debated which category better suited my last poem. It metions sex, but there is no actual sex in it. What decided me is that my erotic poems seem to get more hits and votes than my nons.
Erotic is so hard to define. I found the movie Crash to be incredibly erotic. 91/2 Weeks left me cold as a Driver Ed film.

 

[average gina]

Well, I posted the first poem, calling it "Sear", as an erotic poem.

Thanks for your help!

 

[JUDO]

Every
Rude
Orifice
Trembles
In
Collusion

 

[JUDO]

Every
Rude
Orifice
Trembles
In
Collusion

 

[Angeline]

Every
Rude
Orifice
Trembles
In
Collusion

Just
Unlock
Desire's
Oracle

 

[champagne1982]

Answer
Nature's
Grinding
Ecstacy
Low
Inside
Nighttime
Elegance

 

[Zanzibar]

Concealed
Harbingers
Anxiously
Measure
Philandering
Assignations
Growing
Nihilistic
Ecstasy

 

[hot4teacher1975]

Zealously
Arranging
Nude
Zebras
Is
Better
After
Rain

?

 

[LunaKat]

"Erotic" It think it's verses that are sexually suggestive to outright obvious