Earthly Bodies (A Poem)

Is it obvious I've been reading Pablo Neruda?  There was about a week when I was just reading his poetry, mostly just his love poetry.  The man definitely has a way with words that I don't have, but I've gotten to the point of my jadedness where his love poetry seems to be missing something - it's all so perfect and beautiful!  I've also been reading The Color of Love, an anthology of love poetry a friend gave me.  Some of the poems in that are really amazing, but I will admit that they all center around this perfect woman, who has all of these beautiful features, who might as well be clothed in light and elegance.  These days I want a different kind of love poem than that, one that's more honest, closer to the reality of our bodies.  This poem is one of my 1st attempts at that, although it's definitely only a 1st step, just looking over it makes me see numerous places for improvement, though I don't have the energy or the inspiration to make those now.  I think part of the reason why there's so much bad love poetry is because we idealize each other in our poems - no one writes about the imperfections of his lover, but about how perfect she is.  So I wanted the figure of a woman who's just come from the fields, still drenched in sweat and covered in dirt, and still beautiful because of it all.

So, let me know how I'm doing with this whole love poetry thing!  The name of the blog isn't badlovepoet for nothing, and I am lacking the inspiration of an actual lover, but hopefully you enjoyed taking less than a minute of your life reading it.  Leave any criticisms or comments you have here before you go off to explore the rest of the internet, and I'll be back tomorrow with yet another poem! 
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Earthly Bodies
by Matthew Stalbaum

Dirt-stained, your skin bitter
& clammy, rough, caked with the fields
you worked & the sun's heat
baking you a ruddy brown - I'd have you
no other way.

I'd taste you before the shower, even better
if you washed in the hard rains, clouds steeped
in your bones, your breath free,
your heart strong.

When you smile beneath the layers
of Earth on you, sunken into your skin
until you smell of it, taste of it, look of it,
are you ever more yourself than now?