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Open Poetry #18
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Elizabeth Cor
Senior Member
since 2000-10-13
Posts 879
Over the river and through the woods

0 posted 2002-01-18 02:16 PM


(response to Kathe Koja's Skin)

  
  
           seeing.

  not blessed birth of vision from blindness,
but the adroit truth of angle

  no,

   of focus.

she
poises mad white rings of magnifying glass
over the Entire
(before, beneath, beyond)
compresses it circle-small to my mind, like a coin.

  psychosomatic chemist:
  that break down into elements ...
    evolved past magic,
    revealing the mystery:
    being:
  life more real under her words than in every tedious breath I taste.

Further than the photograph flash of understanding,
my whole interior language conceived of paragraph and pen:
  brain fed to the typewriter:
  grey and pink strands
  truly pulled through the wheel (clumps of gore gumming it in half-slide)
  stamped with intrepid ink:
  gristle, branded blur of ideas:
  viscera to black and white soul...

IV from quintessential self to the sister vein of script...

lexis that clouts a heart,
  does not reflect -- but curls incisions and folds the insides out, dripping --
  or ever ever stop;
effluent disease, infecting each page:

  her verse
is motion, utterly: prick by prick, like a sewing machine:

   That panging rarity!
  The strike of words: claw marks, gore of javelin, the damnation of a soul

not a sword through torso, letting justice flow,
nor a commandment of certainty: some immaculate dove to light on a shoulder  clothed in clarity,
  to turn one's cheek to the illumination
   of recognition, of revelation...
  
     ...as if truth is joy.

she,
the translator of mere existence: god's mouth dry & sighing, denying omnipotence and all power

outside the silver glaze of love,
or the smooth, lidded box of quotation,
there is a shocking lack of injected, affronting wisdom,
   intrusion of tightly-braided moral
she doesn't give
(quick thrusts of penetration to hidden human nature; absolutes)
but allows entrance,
  immersion beyond capacity:
    to know:
   only sight... only is...

reading:
the contradiction to a rush of faith or awareness...
it does not restore,
or glisten with wet sun-slicked hope...

Instead,
inspiration like a headache:
dull pain, splintered through my skull:
a pressure: the compulsion: Out.

her books like a burn, party-red,
tattooed on my breast...
hot, black oil scalding my soul.
The stink, the heat, the fleshy char,
this is me, Oh god, it is ME..
... but alive.

For A, whom I found in a book. and because i can feel my insides drumming to the exact cadence of her letters...

[This message has been edited by Elizabeth Cor (01-18-2002 04:34 PM).]

© Copyright 2002 Megs - All Rights Reserved
Mistletoe Angel
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 5 Tours
Member Empyrean
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon
1 posted 2002-01-18 02:40 PM




WOW!!! BRAVO!!! VERY POWERFUL, SWEET FRIEND!!! I too could feel the cadence beat behind these words, both a contradiction of hope but then ending with a crescendo of awakening and rebirth of faith! (big hugggsssss) I love it, sweet friend, your words are soooooo inspiring, we all love you so much! You have such a beautiful heart, sweet Beth, thank you for sharing!



May love and light always shine upon you!

Love,
Noah Eaton

[This message has been edited by Mistletoe Angel (01-18-2002 02:40 PM).]

Morcastlin
Member
since 2002-01-14
Posts 244
The Jersey Shore, USA
2 posted 2002-01-18 03:02 PM


This is both powerful and deep! Kept me on my toes! I like that! Well done!
BluesSerenade
Member Patricius
since 2001-10-23
Posts 10549
By the Seaside
3 posted 2002-01-18 03:11 PM


Loved your deep thoughts here~
Your poem was powerful, your expression
superb.  I'm so glad I didn't miss this.

Exquisite writing~  

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

4 posted 2002-01-18 03:31 PM


yanno, I still haven't read her? so many words, so little time...but you have more than peaked my curiousity here. (again)

Thanks for the reminder, I shall be looking for her! (and YOU)

Irish Rose
Member Patricius
since 2000-04-06
Posts 10263

5 posted 2002-01-18 03:35 PM


all I can say is, you do not write enough!

This is transendental!

Kathleen--(Kay)
A true friend does not love you for who you are, but in spite of who you are." -- Caroline Tran

Corinne
Member Ascendant
since 1999-10-28
Posts 5167
state of confusion
6 posted 2002-01-18 03:50 PM


A most intruiging and creative read, Elizbeth Cor.

I especially liked:


she feeds her pages:
IV from quintessential self to the sister vein of script...
lexis that clouts a heart,
does not reflect -- but curls incisions and folds the insides out, dripping --
or ever ever stop;
effluent disease, infecting each page:


Peace,

Cor

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
7 posted 2002-01-18 06:44 PM


she,
the translator of mere existence: god's mouth dry & sighing, denying omnipotence and all power

outside the silver glaze of love,
or the smooth, lidded box of quotation,
there is a shocking lack of injected, affronting wisdom,
"  intrusion of tightly-braided moral
she doesn't give
(quick thrusts of penetration to hidden human nature; absolutes)
but allows entrance,
  immersion beyond capacity:
    to know:
   only sight... only is..."

Unbelievably powerful. And some things you've said in this piece feel familiar to me.


Elizabeth Cor
Senior Member
since 2000-10-13
Posts 879
Over the river and through the woods
8 posted 2002-01-19 06:18 PM


Thank you all for reading and taking the time to reply...

Noah, you're too sweet   ... that i could inspire? Much more than I had hoped for here...

Morcastlin & BluesSerenade: you flatter me... to think that thoughts like these could be profound? ~shaking head~ you are too generous...

Kay, I agree! (about the not writing), that will change soon, I hope... thank you.

thanks to K because she knows (& it's okay... when you get to it, you will... (read Skin first, god...)),

to Corinne because she actually stopped by, and found a favorite slice,

and to Midnitesun for seeming to understand & recognizing...

[This message has been edited by Elizabeth Cor (01-19-2002 06:30 PM).]

SpitFire
Member Elite
since 2000-04-19
Posts 2396

9 posted 2002-01-20 05:13 PM


~You. Oh you,...
Mm. My response to this seems such a personal one, I have to watch what I let leak in here. And that too makes it challenging to put into words, and I know I say to you so often, about filling me, but you do, this does. You know, I feel electric. -
There are so many soft pushes, pressed against me in this that I sway, dizzy on your words and your amazing and thrilling ability to write the way you do. Thank you. -
That seems so, lacking in what I feel. I'm anxious to read more of her, more than I've had the chance to yet, the bit that I have read frizzes the ends of me. Oh my. -- More in e you. More. *Peace. ~A.

(I wish I could speak right now).

Sven
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Member Laureate
since 1999-11-23
Posts 14937
East Lansing, MI USA
10 posted 2002-01-20 11:01 PM


dizzying. . . just spinning with so much depth and inner thought. . .

I find that I may have to come back and read this again later. . . and yet again. . .

indeed, you don't write enough. . . please write more. . .

-----------------------------------------------------

To the world, you may only be one person. But to one person, you may be the world.

Midnitesun
Deputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
11 posted 2002-01-21 01:17 AM


I had to come back to this, Elizabeth, as it stirred my mind and left me in a kinetic mental memory swirl. I've had friends I recognized in this piece. Intense souls, always living on the edge, seemingly more grounded at times than the mighty oak tree, yet as fragile as a wildflower hanging onto thinnest soil. I haven't read Koja. Yet. Thank you, for reminding me its time to read again.
strbbux
Member Elite
since 2001-12-19
Posts 3859

12 posted 2002-01-21 09:22 AM


Wow elizabeth your words are so powerful, this is quite an ambitious write, and I enjoyed it. Think I will go back and read it again to absorb more. great work, floria
Skyfyre
Senior Member
since 1999-08-15
Posts 1906
Sitting in Michael's Lap
13 posted 2002-01-21 03:54 PM


To be honest, I am not really sure what you were reading that inspired you to write this, but it sounds like it really hurts.

A good portion of this was something like torture (heh no, not the poetry itself, but what it was describing).  It did a good job of making me feel uncomfortable.  I read a heaviness of frustration and, perhaps, self-directed anger (?) here that made the subject unsuitable for "pretty" words -- so you had to use some of the more ... erm, gory images that you constructed here.

Nice to see you back.

~Linda

Jamie
Member Elite
since 2000-06-26
Posts 3168
Blue Heaven
14 posted 2002-01-21 04:54 PM


Ever find yourself wishing something in open had been posted in CA?--  this is one  
If I weren't already reading 3 other books right now, I would rush out and get Skin, just to gain insight into this poem, which I guess means your poem made an impact.

I just hope it isn't one of those that keeps me up thinking about it...lol

There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar.
byron

Startime
Member Ascendant
since 2000-10-03
Posts 5918
Canada
15 posted 2002-01-21 05:12 PM


*sigh* this poem is absolutely stunning. The emotions are so strong. Very well done. **big hugs**
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
16 posted 2002-01-21 05:21 PM


Wonderful to see your unmatchable style back on the pages once again. I have not read her but, being the avid reader that I am, you have convinced me to do so. This is very powerful....and disturbing.
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