Who stole the room
You gave her to stay and be sheltered in?
Beware the door
That opens to nothing--
A void where no guest can stay, again.
At the station, the stealer
Is stopped by her burden--
A room on a chain on the platform, stopped;
The thief is charming,
Policemen pet her,
Debating whether to hold her or not.
She steals the station,
The train and the tracks,
The schedules and benches, the smoke from the stacks.
Shutter the house,
Leave the lack,
Take only your heart and never look back.
_______
Yeah, cut your losses. Sometimes the whole house has to be burned down to eradicate the ghost of one room.
ReplyDeleteYou spin stories so well
Rick
'take only your heart and never look back' ... oh boy ...
ReplyDelete"A void where no guest can stay again.." One of your greatest gifts for me, Shay, is this ability to take something intangible and translate it into an image that can't be denied, a physical reality out of an emotion or experience--also, your skill at creating characters shines in this one--I feel I know the thief all too well, and can put a face on her from my own experience. Plus, I always love it when you season it up with some meter and rhyme. Thanks for the great start to my day.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Stanza 4, and the following section about her stealing everything she comes in contact with. Clearly the message is "Run, baby, run."
ReplyDeleteI can't comment over the Thin Lizzy stuck in my head!
ReplyDeleteI agree .. great way to begin my Tuesday!! Reminds me a bit of Lisbeth Salander ....
ReplyDeleteouch.
ReplyDeleteThis the perfect bittersweet mix of absurdity and winsomeness. Sometimes you just gotta cut your losses. Sending a firm embrace - Mosk
ReplyDeleteLoved every line, the tempo, the rhyme........and the fanciful creature who steals whole rooms and railway stations........way cool!
ReplyDeleteSounds like my last visit to the Winchester Mystery House. Now *that's* the kind of home I'd build if I had the extra scratch.
ReplyDeleteTotally cool! Definitely some lines in here for a song. All that stealin' and rhymin'
ReplyDeletexo
at least she didn't succeed in stealing the homeowner's heart!
ReplyDelete{{{don't forget the Crisco???}}}
{{{i'm not gonna go there...}}}
{{{i wanna, but i'm not gonna}}}
{{snort}}
She stole the room, plus the train to escape on. I love this one.
ReplyDeleteI kept going back to that door that opens to nothing...excellent imagery throughout.
ReplyDeletethat would be an enchantress....cool!
ReplyDeleteHey there Tiger Woman! I am struck by how each stanza stands alone as a poem!
ReplyDeleteOh, this is very well done - the stranger steals so much just in a short stay. And we learn to board up and try to be aloof of another one.
ReplyDeleteSafeguard your heart; that is the lesson before anything else.
I really liked the way you picture a tale around it.
"Beware the door/That opens to nothing--/A void where no guest can stay, again.": This is definitely my favorite bit.
-HA
Somehow it made me think of Hotel California ...
ReplyDeleteLove the flow of this Shay...it is like a haunting ballad. That last line is killer! I love it!
ReplyDeleteThat stealer of rooms, houses, stations. This is so rich in rhyme and meter. This story is a mixture of winsomeness and nightmare. It creeps into my few dreams and steals them too.
ReplyDeleteI really love the unexpectedness of the opening two lines - and then how it all unfolds, and the form works for it, sets it down like two parallel lines, running silver for gold ....
ReplyDeleteand well, fire is smoke is steam - and sometimes, you just have to pack up and leave, at least dump the losses by the roadside and try to forget ...
and well, you had me chuckling a bit at policemen petting her at the station, it conjured up the weirdest image of "innocent but dark thievery" at this weird train station thing ....
interesting poem you've unearthed from before ... :)
She is so crafty. Watch out for that door that opens to nothing. Somehow this reminded me of the Winchester House and the ghosts residing therein.
ReplyDelete