Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Price of The Best Kisses



The Christmas we went to New York,

Before you even packed,

You had decided how the whole trip ought to be--

Life was your bonsai tree--

Small and crippled,

Trailing after you like a shadow child;

Product of a rotten womb.



You found me wrapped in darkness,

And decided I was a star--

You say I drove you mad in trying to touch me--

But I think it must be

That you were already that way;

Your very bones stuffed with some sort of sick larvae

That I could never even name,

Let alone have placed there.



The Christmas we spent in New York,

You took a child's delight in the lights--

You will always seem bright and be able to

Find someone who wants to take care of you,

Until you burn them out and scorn the cinders.

It was your kisses, you know,

That made me want to be with you--

Your kisses, like the lights,

Hid the deeper darkness.

You will always be disappointed with what is--

Finding dreams of What Should Be more pretty;

As for me, now as in New York,

It is always

Night in an unfamiliar city.

_________

for One Shoot Sunday

I have never been to New York City. The trip was to a different locale, but I altered it to fit the prompt. The rest is true.

photograph by Adam Dustus

24 comments:

  1. You always create another world within your poetry, combining psychological depth with mutli-colored hues of emotional scene and attention to detail. "You found me wrapped in darkness, And decided I was a star--" A.maz.ing

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  2. product of a rotten womb? gee that is bad..lol

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  3. another great piece - your kisses hid the deeper darkness - life small and crippled like a bonsai tree. you have the most powerful imagery shay!

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  4. I'm torn here....

    This being true, you are much better off without them.

    However, we get a wonderful poem out of it.

    This is sad, beautiful writing, Shay. Thank you for sharing your sould with us, as you so often do.

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  5. It's as if the relationship had failed long before the trip. Powerful poem.

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  6. "Life was your bonsai tree- /Small and crippled", "Product of a rotten womb", "Your kisses, light the lights, / Hid the deeper darkness", ad "It is always / Night in an unfamiliar city": striking lines!

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  7. As a gardener, I've often thought of bonsai as torture--though some bonsai are almost perfect things in their way. Maureen points out some of the really excellent lines and images, all of which are at the soul of the poem, but for some reason the lines that got to me were:
    "..You will always seem bright and be able to/Find someone who wants to take care of you..
    because they do.
    Brightness is very blinding.Thanks for putting on the darkest of glasses and dealing with it.

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  8. wicked write shay...you will always find the could bes greater...that is our imagination...but i would not mind a trip to NY...

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  9. This is so familiar it hurts. I know this person.

    I am this person.

    Brilliantly written. It literally took my breath away.

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  10. "...always night in an unfamiliar city..."

    How terribly sad and brilliantly written. Hugs and love to you, my friend. You are a bright and beautiful light in this everchanging (oftentimes dim) and crazy world in which we live in.

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  11. Dynamite, shay. visit me; we are kindred spirits. xxxj

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  12. This is amazing Shay!!!!! You have captured this experience flawless, and brilliantly!

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  13. So sad and familiar and that
    makes it even sadder.

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  14. The fact you can write a poem like this ALMOST makes the pain worth it, I hope. You see with such depth and write with such perception-flawlessly. Fantastic poem. What a great poem to come back to after a day away!You inspire, you make me want to write so much better.

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  15. Oh, but the world of ALMOST... can be such a wonderful place, exciting, alluring, enchanting... if only it could be.

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  16. For a moment there was starlight in those kisses
    Replaced then by decay

    Oh Shay I feel every word the next more profound than the one before

    Moonie

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  17. Wow. Marvelous, Shay.

    I keep forgetting to tell you how much delight I get each time I look at your header tag, Poetry and such like. Very subtle reminder of one of the funniest things ever on a stage, in heels or not!

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  18. Reading your words expands my mind. Now I will look at a bonsai tree differently forever.

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  19. This made me feel a little sad. Sad, but lovely.

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  20. Breathtaking imagery. Just amazing writing.

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  21. You have to come see those decorations in person ... xo

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?