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Open Poetry #47
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Swamp Dirge
| Open Poetry #47 |
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Swamp Dirge |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana 
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I see the reason for my demise in the haze of the bayou. She leans bare foot propped upon a cypress stump a primeval, corporeal female. She stares back at me her eyes camouflaging their color reflecting and taking on the hues of old lovers. She is a Chameleon in the truest sense an enigma exposed for centuries purporting the eyes are the entrance to our paltry souls. We understand. As our souls take on various aspects and forms likewise does the doorway to these hidden secrets and unhinged Ids form their bond. Her strong physical characteristic setting aside her evil spirit are her devilish, multi-colored eyes Everyman's craving. Likewise, her breasts pendulous and substantial are gazed upon hungrily. The same cannot be said, however about her out-of-character too cheerful, fire-engine red hair. Cheerful, as opposed to the moodiness surrounding the rest of the woman. One beholds the curve of her waist before it gently expands and molds dutifully into exquisite, if sinister hips. Holding this beautiful body upright are pleasing-to-the-beholder's-eye well-sculpted and devastatingly long somehow out of place legs. The taper and curve do not give off the same raw look of crudity as do the rest of her. This fog-cloaked body is beautiful not by today's standards not runway beautiful, no. Hers is primitive; Eve to Adam. Why has she come? Now, when I have nothing left to give. I stand up to my virtual hips in these obfuscating surroundings even in the best of times. The density of the swamp the ruthlessness of the quagmire's sinisterism give my final thoughts to black, dreary hallucinations. The bog where we face off offers such primitiveness even gators find better places to prowl when nighttime uncovers secrets the kind you don't want to know, within. Surrounded by the boundaries of clinging moss scummy, rancid bayou water obscene gnarled trees pointing their limbs at me; laughing. It's painful to suck air into my lungs but I dare not hold my breath fearing the dead within me will claim my contemptible, scabby, and gangrenous soul. Just look at her. She comes to wallow in gloat. Somewhere deep within the man I fleetingly remember I was once turn from this apparition attempt the impossible to leave. Leaving, is a fantasy, ho, ho, ho and can never be; just as Lot's wife could not help herself I turn back for one more glimpse at the nightmarish woman who plied me with torment torment which will never find peace in this vile hellhole. It's as though I turned back for one last suckle on her teats knowing full well her breasts are malignant with pus and comes from The Beast. Though she wears the fragile skin of the lovely Helen of Troy inside her inner, non-soul lies the wicked and cunning Medea spewing rites of damnation as she did in Greek folklore. My death has been a long and torturous one culminating inside this insidious swamp. I stare at my executioner wanting to speak understanding there is nothing left to say that hasn't been said a million times over. I want to call out her name. I want to reach my hands toward her I want to beseech her to . . . There, then, is the conundrum. There are no more chances. I have no more sycophant entreaties which fall on deaf ears. I have no more sobs trying to melt the pitiless space within her chest where her heart is supposed to reside. No matter which pathetic look I conjure up her eyes will be blinded to them as they have in the past. So I do nothing. There is nothing to be done. My death has been a long time coming overrated and past due. I've been in its clutches too many years. Now I wait. Sensing my capitulation she presents me with a supercilious smile. Alma, I whisper. ~ Eggs and bacon, honeymoon style / What's honeymoon style? / Straight up and hard. ~ |
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| © Copyright 2011 Jerry Pat Bolton - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Lori Grosser Rhoden Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202Fair to middlin' of nowhere |
Well done Jerry! That was beautifully dark and haunting! Dirge indeed! Lori |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Thanks, Lori, I do tend to ease back into my dark poetical life don't I? ~ Eggs and bacon, honeymoon style / What's honeymoon style? / Straight up and hard. ~ |
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Word Weaver Member
since 2011-03-06
Posts 437California, USA |
I'm sure glad I read this masterpiece in the daytime or I would have had a nightmare filled night, I still might. This is so well written it seems real. My goose bumps and I shall depart for now. |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
I'm happy you got here in the daytime too, Marcia. Hopefully by bedtime you'll have forgotten all about it. Of course the opposite may happen, be careful . . . ~ Eggs and bacon, honeymoon style / What's honeymoon style? / Straight up and hard. ~ |
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Prasad Nataraj Senior Member
since 2008-05-29
Posts 1149Bangalore,India |
Fine writing Jerry, great imagery, the visuals are perfect for a gothic painting. Emotions are presented at the rawest form. "The secret behind survival of mankind is kindness and love within our hearts" |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Thank you so much, Prasad. Living down here in the Louisiana swamps I let the area's color influence my writing quite often. the voodoo influence you might say. ~ Eggs and bacon, honeymoon style / What's honeymoon style? / Straight up and hard. ~ |
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ice Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404Pennsylvania |
I have loved swamps all my life, J.P., every since my daddy carried me on his shoulders, (when I was six) to check his trapline. After I got older, I had my on sets, and line...but I never saw anything like this woman on my rounds, and glad I didn't, because I would have tried to kiss her, and that would have caused my death.. Perfect, how you mixed Greek myths in this..."Helen" is a good choice here, being the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology..and the cause of many deaths in the Trojan wars...now she has come to claim another, or maybe two..you, and me..stay out of the swamp JP.. enjoyed |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
I have been fascinated with the swamps as long as I have lived down here in them, Ice. I have let the folklore, i.e., Marie Laveau and the voodoo/hoodoo that thrives down here, and it has influenced my writing many times. In fact I'm thinking of writing a novel with a voodoo theme if I can ever finish the darn one I'm writing now. Thanks for being here, Ice. ~ Eggs and bacon, honeymoon style / What's honeymoon style? / Straight up and hard. ~ |
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