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Open Poetry #46
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bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631


0 posted 2010-07-08 10:53 AM



I’ve death in me,
and still can’t name the bird falling desperately
from the tree’s high crooks,
a grey flash, tipped red and lit
upon a fencepost, its wings smolder,
it smells of ginger

caught in the fretful brambles of night,
the rain has turned everything to junipers,

shagged and spooked, and everywhere, at the edges,
the dark, verdant canopy of green envelops, suffocates,
sneaks sidelong glances at hummingbirds
astir in the curves of Heliconia blossoms,

and silently
stalks the schema dream,  bird,

how I envy you,


for I am not often given the luxury of a lyric,
a song that makes my own undoing, or killing sweet
even as I go down into the fire to rise as smoke,

bird, your life would terrify me,

bones full of air, belly all hunger,
the underbrush dense with murders,
death is a twist, a pine feather lost,
a stumble over a slowing pebble,

this is not a life of flight, but flight from,
perhaps you do not suppose there is any other way,
which is itself a kind of mercy,

your heart is the size of a tiny clod
and so I’ve heard, egg-shaped,

I’ve learned to measure mine by the scale of my fist,
and my height from the distance between the forefingers
at the ends of my spread arms,

physical logic is contrast,
ratio, degree, I’ve learned desire
by the scarcest shades on my skin:
brief flushes, bitten lips, as if love
were something that requires, a witness, it isn’t…

there are acres more night than moon,
hours more sleep than dream and slowly,
I am learning their count, though numbers fray in me,
and the loaded instants graft, coming
always to the same tangle:

the distant cry merges with the song at hand,
bird, you silly, incomprehensible thing,
drenched in the color of something like joy,
stuffed with something of music,
make of me a body that pools in its brine,

for I’ve death in me, still.

         

© Copyright 2010 babygirLPress - All Rights Reserved
Dark Stranger
Member Patricius
since 2001-03-19
Posts 13631
West Coast
1 posted 2010-07-08 10:57 AM


something this lovely from being "flipped off"? (grin)
Cpat Hair
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Patricius
since 2001-06-05
Posts 11793

2 posted 2010-07-08 10:59 AM


damn~~~  
  there is a steak in this that pentrates the soul little one.....


bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

3 posted 2010-07-08 11:04 AM


LOL Dark~~  I would never....

         

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

4 posted 2010-07-08 11:05 AM


hey Chief~~

this is a tattering of an old song, nothing more

         

miscellanea
Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060
OH
5 posted 2010-07-08 11:32 AM


bel1e,

    This one grabs at my soul!  What an eye you have!

   misce'

miscellanea
Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060
OH
6 posted 2010-07-08 11:35 AM


Click on Save... I wanted this in my library...

thanks for another beauty!

misce'

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

7 posted 2010-07-08 12:12 PM


oh hey, Misce'~

thanks so much~

         

Eldest
Member
since 2010-06-15
Posts 177
Alabama
8 posted 2010-07-08 12:16 PM


amazingly put...
2islander2
Member Ascendant
since 2008-03-12
Posts 6825
by the sea
9 posted 2010-07-08 12:20 PM


a complex poem, but wonderful words, a very enjoyable read.

yann

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

10 posted 2010-07-08 12:50 PM


Eldest~

Thank you, kindly~*~*

         

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

11 posted 2010-07-08 12:51 PM


yann~

thanks so much for reading my poem...I know it's dense...most everything of mine is...but I thank you for enduring it~

~love & light

         

Amaryllis
Senior Member
since 2010-05-20
Posts 1306
Mi now
12 posted 2010-07-08 03:33 PM


Bel1e, really.. this is exquisite! Truly a pleasure to experience.. I am in awe of your talent.
~Amaryllis

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

13 posted 2010-07-08 04:42 PM


Hey Amaryllis~

Thanks for stopping in to read this & for the great review~

~love & light~

         

easy1
Senior Member
since 2010-05-22
Posts 1209
Southeastern USA
14 posted 2010-07-09 10:16 AM


Cedar Waxwings are grayish with red-tipped wings, but usually travel in flocks. Perhaps this one had become temporarily lost?

Your poetic creation above is a good read, thanks for posting. It's a bit of a roller coaster, with more than one mood included, but that's more than okay, and I notice that that is how your writing posted here works effectively... As for the death, well, I've found that sometimes in us humans this is more like a traumatic short circuiting which can sometimes be gotten around. Thank goodness.

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

15 posted 2010-07-09 11:55 AM


easy1~

thanks so much for reading my poem and the wonderful insight & reply !  

love & light

         

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