Alterity

(Just diddling around, playing, I was, for some reason amused by the fact that alterity is also spelled as altarity ;)

A Celebration of Alterity
by Michael Benton

Alterity
Slippery word
whose meaning is
not decipherable
Never stated clearly
nor fixed firmly
The nerve of the word
Altarity

It may be approached,
though, if one dares,
through networks
of associations
Altar, Alter
Alternative, Alternation

I yearn to sacrifice
myself upon the
altar of her sexuality.
Yet, I hold back
fearing that the pleasure
may somehow alter me.

Her scent and taste
seizes the roots of my soul
What alternative is there?
I vacillate betwixt pleasure and pain
Ceaselessly resonating between
the yawning gaps of reason

Even the meaning of altarity
pecipitates a crisis
Symbol of difference
Naming of the OTHER
Its power mocks
conformity’s lack

Resist the conservative urge
to embrace sameness
Explore those who differ
Open up closed circuits
Rise up to celebrate
the eros of alterity