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Open Poetry #47
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bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631


0 posted 2011-12-30 09:20 AM





Some days I am simply too gullible,
all butter cream and lace as we abandon this house for another
with a little picket fence and chicken wire,

a tiny door opens unto evening and spindles into argument,
clandestine, destined to have too many holes we can barely fill,
despite the flurry of our hands,

I am drowsy,
though I pulled enough hair from the shower drain to make a doll,
sache and arabesque across the ceramic tile, a doll within a doll,

I make flip books out of our indiscretions and misspellings,
hook my fingers into the upholstery while we play roulette with beer bottles,
kiss me. kiss me not.

my heart, a four chambered float, a dancing bear
until I split the infinitives, spilt the milk, slit
the window screens during the hurricane,

you wouldn’t believe the things I want sometimes. like now,
the fever blooming inside me scented like milkweed and snow,
the enormous tangle of branches that give way to a tiny kitten heart.

There’s a river beating there,
all screaming seraphim and dirndls,
all clockwork,

it’s the worst sort of enchantment,
a lovely vertigo that’s really out for blood,

I braid my hair and pretend it comes as natural to me as breathing,
as this tiny disease caught in my throat;
might be a butterfly, might be a knife,
all night my ribs are a drowsy furnace,

these days I am always so jittery,
this contagion sweet on the tongue,
licorice, the ache in the molars,

surely there are worse things than all this drought
choked with the memory of lilies, lies
about how deep the heart runs to hide,

and so you dress me in guesswork,
masked with a see-through caul from breast to hipbone,

and I dream, nothing really, your absence
goes through me like thread through a needle,
though everything I do is stitched with its color,

this is not a room you’d ever want to live in,
no house you’d want to own:
ricepaper walls peel to reveal blue-black secrets,
the roof slants toward ruin,

a gallows on which the angels will hang nightmare,
three broken promises, sunflowers, potpourri
and white silk sheets draped with the red symmetry of failure,

littered with shards of broken clay pitchers,
fragile wings, a dusty path winds down to the drywell,

this is the message: do not sleep, rise, wade

with a bee sting inside your heart,
its honeycomb deep in my throat
lulls the anomalies of sound into song.

              

© Copyright 2011 babygirLPress - All Rights Reserved
JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
1 posted 2011-12-30 09:37 AM


"lies
about how deep the heart runs to hide,"

Walking through your house, your freshly moved-in house, had me on the edge of my own nightmare. You do these so damn well, Baby Girl.

From one bareass naked line to the next is like floating down rapids, clawing at the churning, vicious waves to no avail as you find a breath of precious air to fight the next wave, or in this case, the next line or stanza.

You do gloom well . . .

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

2 posted 2011-12-30 09:44 AM


doom & gloom are my specialty, Mr. Pat! LOL Even when I write about flowers and sunshine...it is usually steeped in the pungent colors of belladonna and nightmare...

(((Thank you))) for taking the ride...and for the wonderful review...I will have to dredge up some flowers and sunshine...so you see what I mean...LOL

XOXO

p.s. funny you chose that line to quote...it is by far...the crux of the entire mess of a poem...and my fav line to boot...



              

JL
Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128
Texas, USA
3 posted 2011-12-30 10:22 PM


B.G.,

"this is not a room you’d ever want to live in,
no house you’d want to own:
ricepaper walls peel to reveal blue-black secrets,
the roof slants toward ruin,"

All seemed to have a way around until this verse.  Now the secrets grab you by the throat and will not let you pass without giving up a sigh to shame.

Very nice writing.
Enjoyed the read.

JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

4 posted 2011-12-30 10:25 PM


JL~

ha ha~~~thank you for putting up with my crazy ransom !

             

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
5 posted 2011-12-30 11:31 PM


Oh, Gloom and gloom fits you Perfect. Wonderful poetry

~*~ If they give you lined paper, write sideways. ~*~

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

6 posted 2012-01-03 04:04 PM


Thanks for checking this out, Mr. Pat!

             

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
7 posted 2012-01-16 12:03 PM


and I dream, nothing really, your absence
goes through me like thread through a needle,
though everything I do is stitched with its color,

this is not a room you’d ever want to live in,
no house you’d want to own:
ricepaper walls peel to reveal blue-black secrets,
the roof slants toward ruin,

a gallows on which the angels will hang nightmare,
three broken promises, sunflowers, potpourri
and white silk sheets draped with the red symmetry of failure,

This is stunning! And these lines went straight to my heart... I think I walk through that door every evening.

bel1e
Senior Member
since 2006-07-24
Posts 1631

8 posted 2012-01-16 07:48 AM


Thank you, suthern for the great reply !!!

             

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