The kitten Giuseppe Verdi is smaller than nearly everything
Except mice.
Woe betide the cheeser who does not understand this.
Dreams are smaller than the night they are born to,
And yet,
As the Succubus can tell you, they contain the soul.
Doom awaits the sleeper who denies this.
It is not the light which makes the morning,
But the presence or absence of this or that face,
Felt the more keenly
The fresher the change.
The kitten Giuseppe Verdi worries about none of this.
He has no mother,
But he has a waitress
And a panther to play with.
Mrs. Langtry's talent was smaller than Bernhardt's or Terry's,
But her loveliness brought roses and proposals from the fine gentlemen in the front row.
Theater is illusion,
And the Jersey Lily knew how to work it.
The play ran for one hundred and eleven weeks--
No one now living was there to see it.
The theater has disappeared, replaced by a coffee shop.
The kitten pounces.
The Succubus waits.
A waitress laughs.
The Dark-Haired Chick sits in one of the booths, dressed entirely in black,
With a panther stretched out at her boots
Like a thrown rose.
_______
for One Shoot Sunday
photograph: Lily Langtry
________
Delicious to read!
ReplyDeletecan i please go there one day?
ReplyDeleteCould do with a trip there myself x
ReplyDeleteAnd they call the coffee shop Incontinent—serving 5 dollar flavored water! Incidentally, the only one who got a gig later on was the succubus who starred in The Iceman Cometh. Love how this piece challenges the reader, especially with those in-your-face lines "Woe betide the cheeser who does not understand this" & "Doom awaits the sleeper who denies this." Nice technique and then the change in tone, "The fresher change," sets an excellent internal structure.
ReplyDeleteI woke in the midst of a dream this morning and just like that, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Wait, wait, I wasn't through yet. But it abandoned me anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe trick is to be the panther, lacking fear, filling boots and filled with confidence, doing what panthers are created to do.
ReplyDeleteI love the places and spaces into which you invite me, Shay!
Very enjoyable !!
ReplyDeleteLoved every single word! What wonderful reading this Sunday morning!
ReplyDeleteThe show goes on as long as there is an audience or a memory. "...The play ran for one hundred and eleven weeks--/No one now living was there to see it..." Illusion is as big or as small as it needs to be, a kitten or a Langtry, a muse or a mouse. I love how you have filled in the blanks of the morning with these various faces and forms, purposes and patterns, threats and gifts.
ReplyDeleteAs usual I love it, love it, love it! You have a definite gift with words.
ReplyDeleteI love this, Shay.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite line is;
"With a panther stretched out at her boots"
Well done.
Pamela
I love the fresher the change part. Hope the new mail route is going well.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact she had a waitress...and a panther to play with what a woman....bkm
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing photo-- look at that face-- and a wonderful turn on the prompt-- xxxJ
ReplyDelete"With a panther stretched out at her boots
ReplyDeleteLike a thrown rose."
... Wonderful! ;-)
WHEN will you find the recognition and riches you deserve?
ReplyDeleteAloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
><}}(°>
><}}(°>
My third favorite - in order of reading - poem in this week's offerings. Perfect, sublime, wish I'd written this (said in a non-jealous way).
ReplyDeleteI like the thought of that panther stretched out across her boots.
ReplyDeleteYou know what pisses me off? That I know you're there and you're alive and so are so many others I read here and we're not all in that coffee shop with out own daemons at our feet (with a nod to Philip Pullman's Dark Materials). I love this -- remembering Judge Roy Bean and Miss Lily Langtry. Damn you're good.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can visit that coffee shop one day...and Stripey wants to come, too...
ReplyDeleteIt always goes back to the coffee shop we all know and love. Save me a seat by Cloudia and Talon!
ReplyDeleteas always, Shay, i love your writing. amazing... brilliant... uniquely yours. i throw a rose at your feet.
ReplyDeletedani ♥
Shay - can you stop with the ridiculously awesome writes please!!!!
ReplyDeleteI want to paint a man hole cover(why is it called that?), pull it up and crawl in under the world until such time as I can brilliantly write!!!
Loving ya!!!
"It is not the light which makes the morning,
ReplyDeleteBut the presence or absence of this or that face"
That is so lovely it takes your breath.
This, my Tiger-friend, left me breathless and speechless. Le sigh!
ReplyDeletexoxo
Weasel-friend
Loved this Shay...this line really spoke to me in particular...I think perhaps because I am such a serious sort of person lately "
ReplyDeleteDreams are smaller than the night they are born to,"
Oh Danny's .. I love it there .. I keep hoping I will find it and be seated next to the Queen ...
ReplyDeleteI really like this...the imminent danger in forgetting the power of the small or seemingly benign.
ReplyDeleteLater... the panther orders biscotti
ReplyDeleteand flips through Hairstyles Today.
The succubus slips through the keyhole of some guy's cufflink, a portal which leads to a lilac evening in 1592 at some Spanish castle or another.
And the dish runs away with the spoon?? :)
xoxo