Pitch

erotic poetry

A poem from PITCH by Todd Boss (2012, W. W. Norton & Co), now available in paperback wherever books are sold.


This Morning in a Morning Voice

 to beat the froggiest 
of morning voices, 
 my boy gets out of bed
and takes a lumpish song
 along—a little lyric 
learned in kindergarten, 
 something about a 
boat. He’s found it in
 the bog of his throat
before his feet have hit
 the ground, follows
its wonky melody down
 the hall and into the loo
as if it were the most 
 natural thing for a little 
troubadour to do, and lets
 it loose awhile in there
to a tinkling sound while
 I lie still in bed, alive
like I’ve never been, in  
 love again with life, 
afraid they’ll find me
 drowned here—drowned  
in more than my fair 
 share of joy.

This Morning in a Morning Voice

A poem from PITCH by Todd Boss (2012, W. W. Norton & Co), now available in paperback wherever books are sold.


The World Is in Pencil

—not pen. It’s got

that same silken 
dust about it, doesn’t it, 

that same sense of 
having been roughed 

onto paper even  
as it was planned. 

It had to be a labor
of love. It must’ve

taken its author some
time, some shove. 

I’ll bet it felt good
in the hand—the o

of the ocean, and
the and and the and 

of the land.

The World Is In Pencil

A poem from PITCH by Todd Boss (2008, W. W. Norton & Co), now available in paperback wherever books are sold.


It Is Enough to Enter

the templar 
halls of museums, for

example, or 
the chambers of churches, 

and admire 
no more than the beauty 

there, or 
remember the graveness

of stone, or 
whatever. You don’t 

have to do any
better. You don’t have to

understand 
the liturgy or know history 

to feel holy
in a gallery or presbytery. 

It is enough
to have come just so far. 

You need 
not be opened any more  

than does 
a door, standing ajar.

It Is Enough to Enter

A poem from PITCH by Todd Boss (2008, W. W. Norton & Co), now available in paperback wherever books are sold.


Feast

             —Let me taste
the kitchen in your skin. 

Now that company’s gone
& the kids are tucked in, 
let the real feasting begin. 

Let me lay you out on the 
bed like a spread of bone 

china. —Yes, I want a 
piece of you. 
                       Yes, I do.

Give me your garlic, and 
the sting of your pepper.

The plenty of your hair
(cinnamon, cardamom). 

Here a hint of coffee, & 
there, in the cup of your 
shoulder, I swear, a lick 
of salted butter. 
      But first: 
your wrist, your palm’s   
sweet meat. 
                      Dip your 
fingers in my kisses—
star anise—lemon zest—
                                     
Say a grace, my fare,
my flight, 
                 & let’s re-light
the candles tonight…

Feast

A poem from PITCH by Todd Boss (2008, W. W. Norton & Co), now available in paperback wherever books are sold. 

Broke

Todd Boss is a poet, public artist, librettist, and film producer in Minneapolis. His poetry collections are SOMEDAY THE PLAN OF A TOWN (2022), TOUGH LUCK (2017), PITCH (2012) and YELLOWROCKET (2008), all from W. W. Norton & Co. His poems have appeared in THE NEW YORKER, POETRY, NPR, THE LONDON TIMES, and many other publications. His choral collaborations with composer Jake Runestad have premiered at Kennedy Center and elsewhere. His large-scale public artworks include a 2022 augmented-reality "Dakota Spirit Walk" in downtown Saint Paul, a 2012 installation in the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis to mark the 5th anniversary of the 35W Bridge collapse, and a 2014 block-wide projection of poetry films onto Saint Paul’s historic Union Depot. He is the founding Executive and Artistic Director of Motionpoems, an initiative that partners with major publishers and film companies to turn great contemporary poems into short films, with 150 in its archive. More at toddbossoriginals.com and motionpoems.org.