and flatten me out,
get your fingers
all sticky and
semi-sweetened
‘cause I’m not thin
enough yet,
I still have
too thick
a pulse
that flutters
and quickens
like a
wet puppy dog’s tail
right before
the newspaper’s
black
thumps the letter
of his soft, runt
head
But even as
I squint
real skinny
for the shape-shifting
target of a
circular aim,
I laugh at all the
fat drama
for which I’m
committed,
with this
painterly choice
of purple words,
blossomed from
the semi-bitten
bruises of plums,
and rolled on
a world
that just is
what it is
what this is
8 comments:
Oh Sarah, I had so much fun reading this outloud three times. This truly is a shapeshifting poem, fluttering from image to image and thought to thought like a butterfly I just love the fun of how it moves! And yes, I laugh too. What else? Really? But to laugh... Just tonight I was laughing at Marlow and thought, laughter, seriously, just do it a lot. Whatever tickles your funny bone. Especially our own dramas. Right?
Cat, I've gotten in a bad habit of writing this sort of thing when I'm stuck. It's an exercise in self-indulgence, and I know when I'm doing it, that I'm like a child sticking dirt in my mouth. Then I go ahead and do it, anyway. ;)
But thank you! Yes, laughing is the best medicine of all. Especially when it's at ourselves.
Silly question, Sarah, but this poem has a bit of your new novel in it, yes? Your mind must be overflowing with all of the possibilities that are going to be coming your way, as this new world unfolds for you. You're going to be a published writer!!! How to think about that and not become self-indulgent (from your comment to Cat)? "Fat drama" and "purple words", indeed. I love the concept of both - drama... that magical world that delivers reality through fiction, or even non-fiction... purple... my favorite color, with all of its nuances, and plums, and blossoms, and and and...
This new world of yours is just as you described it - "what it is". I loved this poem because it felt like it came right from your gut and at just the right time!
Nevine
What it is is what it became. The question itself.
For some reason, this really appeals to me:
"Take this rolling pin
and flatten me out,
get your fingers
all sticky and
semi-sweetened
‘cause I’m not thin
enough yet..."
Try as I might, I don't know why that image tickles to me, but it's fun and funny and, at the same time, sounds almost like the blues!
I also love the "painterly choice/ of purple words."
This one is just plain fun, Sarah.
The 'rolling pin' part was hilarious. Wish there was something like that which could flatten me!!!
Splendid reading.
Joy always,
Susan
Nevine, this was a "gut" poem, as you so rightly put it. Messy with internal meaning. I suppose that is why I feel self-indulgent when I write this kind of poem. I'm basically trying to crack the stranglehold. And it usually works!
I think I was wrestling with the conflict between inner and outer realities. How I can never entirely bridge the two. I think. ;) Thank you, Nevine. Your comments are lavender fields to me. :)
Mark, your words are always the truth of calm.
Karen, I'm glad you saw the fun in it! Sometimes, I tire of taking myself so seriously (though I can never entirely break the habit). ;) Thanks so much for the smiles here.
Purple prose will always be a favorite with me. Purple poetry, too!
Susan, it would be nice sometimes, wouldn't it? When we're just too puffed up with want or need. :)
Thanks for your lovely words here. I always appreciate your visits!
" purple words,
blossomed from
the semi-bitten
bruises of plums,"
You are feeling the flutters aren't you? :D :D
I think you've either got it or you don't, but I'm always unsure where to break the lines when I attempt poetry. But when I read yours, Karen's or K's work, it all feels so natural and obvious! There's no guide book to it, is there? ;)
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