Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Possession


And when he threw
his arms about her neck,
he squeezed so tight
a white ghost slipped
from her Valentine lips

And when she clenched
her legs about his waist,
she blazed so hot
the wood in his bones
was torched to a pulp

Now when the snow
sinks over its felled tree,
try to divine whether
the tears it sheds
are given in sorrow or
taken with relief

14 comments:

RachelW said...

Sarah, wow that is intense. Beautiful!

Bob said...

Beautiful.

Catherine Vibert said...

Yum Sarah! I think relief. Someone home from 'vacation'?

Sigh...I go back to my cat and I squish him hard.

K.Lawson Gilbert said...

Wonderful pairing - poem/photo.

You know I love these lines...
he squeezed so tight
a white ghost slipped
from her Valentine lips

Great abstract quality in the personification of the tree and snow. ;)

Sarah Hina said...

Rachel, thanks! It's not my best effort, but it was fun. :D

Bob, thank you. :)

Cat, don't you dare turn Marlow into a pulp! :p But probably a little relief, yeah...

K, I was digging deep into this photo, and turned up the whimsy a notch. :)

Thank you for pointing out those lines!

Anonymous said...

In the first moment, relief.

In the hours and days after, sorrow.

Sarah Hina said...

Jason, very likely so.

I had a weird idea with this one that my series actually triggered. Thanks for indulging it! :)

Aine said...

Not sure I fully got this one.

I felt sorrow at the end. But I don't know why...
:(

Sarah Hina said...

Aine, I was exploring the idea of the desire for total possession leading to a kind of suffocation and death. And whether, in that permanent union of death, there would be a kind of selfish relief, or sorrow for what each had inflicted on the other.

Sorry for the confusion, though! :) It wasn't very clear.

Karen said...

I've heard of "loving someone to death," but I've never hear it so eloquently. ;)

the walking man said...

"And when he threw
his arms about her neck,
he 'squeezed so tight
a white ghost' slipped
from her Valentine lips"

These line really do show your intent Sarah.

Love them when connected with...
"...she clenched
her legs about his waist...the wood in his bones
was torched to a pulp"

Both verses hold that character of the subject holding on to the point where it isn't a caress but a clinch. Desperation or vengeance?

And then the final verse, so elegant in it's wondering which is the outcome of this "love"...You have a knack for leaving the reader to come to their own conclusion, for stretching within themselves to find their conclusion. Well done again.

I suppose a simple Wow! would have said it all but *shrug* if I am nothing else, I am wordy.

Anil Sawan said...

how similar to our life!! beautiful..

Sarah Hina said...

Karen, loving someone to death! Yes, exactly. :) Thank you, my friend.

Walking Man, I appreciate that "wordiness" more than you know. Especially since I was feeling this poem to be a bit of a failure.

I think I pictured desperation when writing it. Which can be its own form of vengeance, of course.

Thank you so much for all your lovely words! And for coming to such insightful conclusions. :)

Sawan, thank you. :) I'm glad you found something relevant to real life here.

all ways 11 o'clock said...

i am very happy reading your work. the joy, sadness, tears, perceptions are organic in their after taste... thank you.