Let me in now, in the morning,
While the early autumn chill has frosted your blabbermouthed busybody neighbors' lips shut.
All right,
Go ahead, play it coy.
Spread out on the musty cushions of the old glider.
Wear last night's gauzy white dress that loves your skin as if it were whipped cream on coffee.
Throw your man's red-checked hunting jacket around your shoulders.
Pretend to read that sin-black bible of yours,
All the while with your finger to your lips
Like a saloon whore.
I can wait.
I'm a glacier, stopped at the picket fence.
I'm a pair of eyes and a set of teeth.
You know I'm here.
Let me in.
Let me in now, before virtuousness sours you.
The dance goes like this:
You set down that bible,
I raise my eyes,
You raise the rifle.
In that moment, sweet honey, I know one thing:
One of us
Is never gonna be the same.
for dverse OLN 11
"Wear last night's gauzy white dress that loves your skin as if it were whipped cream on coffee." -Love it.
ReplyDeleteoooooh!
ReplyDelete"pretending to read that sin-black bible of yours,"
i wonder who's gonna win? {wicked grin}
LOVE this, Shay! ♥
"While the early autumn chill has frosted your blabbermouthed busybody neighbors' lips shut." That line made me laugh out loud for real! this was so many things (all good, of course) and I loved it :)
ReplyDeleteThe tension is palpable ... black as sin ... like a saloon whore .. oh the imagery
ReplyDeleteoh i think you might give that neighbor something to talk about...pow
ReplyDeleteNeither one of you will be the same, I'm thinkin. Rich imagery here, and the cadence is potent and punches through the more complex pictures of lacy dresses,sin-black bibles and glaciers stopped at the picket fence.The "Let me in" refrain reminded me of all the devil's creatures that have to be asked in through the open door of the heart.Fine and intense writing here.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, this is wonderful! "I'm a glacier, stopped at the picket fence. I'm a pair of eyes and a set of teeth." The last stanza has so much tension, and the words "sweet honey" really pop. Amazing , breathtaking stunning writing. Wow.
ReplyDeleteThat she-wolf speaks in some very seductive language. As an aside I once tried to put a giant black wolf that I thought (initially, idiot girl that I was) was a dog into my station wagon (now I drive a MINI, harder to shove wolves into). When it got close enough to sniff my hand I looked in its eyes. That wolf didn't need to be rescued or anything else from me. A shivering encounter with the 'other', I loved it! I'll go read your story of parthenogenesis :).
ReplyDeletewow - this was cool!
ReplyDeleteI chuckled through the entire poem .... your poems are begging to be set to music.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is a stealthy predator, Shay.
ReplyDeleteI also have to add---the picture at the top of your blog is so lovely!
But, whatcha gonna do when you get in?
ReplyDeleteOk, Mizz Shimmies With Wolves, this is pure wilderness appetite, fangs faintly gleaming in the Etruscan smile, ready for the kill ... The singleness of purpose of this predator is complete, and the moment at the crossroads -- there just beyond the last safe light of suburbia -- hangs perfect in the balance. Woof.-Brendan
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem.. & great ending..btw I like your blog; it looks very nice.
ReplyDeleteGirl...you are fierce! And keep getting more so, the more I read! I thought your end here brilliant...you are my OLN hero!
ReplyDelete...that loves your skin as if it were whipped cream or coffee...I love it!
ReplyDeletethis is dangerously beautiful...
ReplyDeleteOMG, I so love the ending........and wonder who!(Wink.)
ReplyDeleteYour poetry is always so intense and verbal...... I love how you played the "sin black bible" right to that unexpected end... A great journey!
ReplyDeleteLove the animal in the picture, you have an interesting way of expressing your self.refreashing
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I've said this before, but you have such an original voice. It makes visiting such a pleasure. Excellent ending, too :)
ReplyDelete"...as if it were whipped cream on coffee." Such a seductive, gorgeous phrase, Shay.
ReplyDeletedamn right. i like a good showdown.
ReplyDeleteLove the ending!
ReplyDeleteSuch a lyrical voice to your poetry...they just ooze! Gonna pour you that cider now ;)
ReplyDeleteThis made me hold my breath as I read. Wow!
ReplyDeleteThis pulled me in. Sweet dichotomy. Great write!
ReplyDeleteYou've got that wolf bitch's voice down - stellar (I'm like a damn dear in its headlights) - now, let's see you write her voice, the one on the porch with her nose in the bible.
ReplyDeleteThe wolf-woman at sweet honey's gate: independent feminist vs the dependent 1950s June Cleaver type. Aside from the surface interest, spark of the poem, the underlying philosophy is a defining issue of our century. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteWay back when, when I was in the military, I used to smoke cigarettes called "Black Death". Ah...those were the good ole' days...
ReplyDeleteI think you are right one of you will never be the same who will win that is the question on this one.
ReplyDeletehttp://gatelesspassage.com/2011/09/27/addiction-to-solitaire/#comment-1201
Love your voice.. you sure know what you want to say, straight from your lips. Enjoyed these lines:
ReplyDeletePretend to read that sin-black bible of yours,
All the while with your finger to your lips
Like a saloon whore.
Very very funny and sharp.
ReplyDeletehot tense descriptive scene with a surprise ending and I love me some wolf - awesome tale! (no pun intended -lol)
ReplyDeleteGreat imagery here.. Good poetry requires movement, and you succeeded..
ReplyDeleteA very good poem..much enjoyed
¡Muy erótica, chica! ¡Me gusta mucho!
ReplyDeleteGoing to your blog is like opening a box delivered by the brown clad UPS man. Its gonna be good, but a thousand things could be in there. I toy with myself and don't open it right away.
ReplyDeleteScarily close to home, this one. For each of us, probably the wolf is different. (ah and the synchronistic whip cream was noted)
This piece is all teeth and temptation!
ReplyDelete"You raise the rifle. ...
One of us/ Is never gonna be the same."
I love it!
Visiting here is always a joy, and enlightening experience. You write with intelligence and the ability to surprise and engage me. Thank you. James.
ReplyDeleteYou drew me in right from the get-go and then that ending! Blew me away like a thirty ought six (.30-06).
ReplyDelete