so I did,
only to find myself both mute and vilified.
"Open wide," they said,
and sent the carts,
rattling along the darkened tracks like spastics.
At the bottom,
is everything I ever choked back;
milky-eyed, fat-lipped horrors, with folded, featherless wings,
and a knack for surviving on each others' blood.
"Shine your light!" they said,
as burning moths fell from my eyes like splintered bones;
"Fire in the hole!" they cried,
bright with glowing logs inside their own.
_______
for The Imaginary Garden With Real Toads
Yeesh. I feel like I need to take a shower and lock the door and look under the bed now. Very vivid--too vivid for the under twelve mental age bracket like me.
ReplyDeleteAnd that version of Put A Spell makes John Fogarty sound like a choirboy.
dang...the shine your light and fire in the hole stanza is tight...yeah this has grit...nice shay...
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Shay, just chilling. I love it. And the song is perfect with it. xo
ReplyDeleteWhoa, so powerful!!!!!! "milky-eyed fat-lipped horrors with folded featherless wings" just might be the best line ever written. Whew. And then the whole burning moths/glowing logs thing. So brilliant!
ReplyDeleteScreamin Jay has a wonderin eye. Love him. Love this poem, It tells me that I'd like your mind.
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that children with difficult childhoods are destined to do something great with their lives; that is what the training was for. What shall we do?
ReplyDeleteOh yes! surrealism flows quite effortlessly from your pen. What I like the most about this poem is its wholeness and originality. It is not bound by the picture. Those opening lines are brilliant, and the tone throughout so well maintained.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your work on Real Toads.
Your pen is pumped up full with creativity.
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Awesome. Awesome!
Regards
The PostMan
http://postcardsinthewind.blogspot.com/
oh I love this response! so stark and powerful - it carries such weight - love "speak your mime" - only to be found mute - brilliantly done! nice!
ReplyDelete"Don't ask me what I think of you,
ReplyDeleteI might not give the answer you want me to."
That's for them, 'cause YOU already know ;-)
This poem is so damned smart. I love that about you and your work, Shay... with astounding intelligence, creative genius and an uncanny awareness of the dark side, you create art from scenarios that stifle lesser souls.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! A very wild ride, my dear.
ReplyDeleteTerror spoken through verse...great job!!
ReplyDeleteI like it. This works for me.
ReplyDelete