The moon is nothing but a dusty ball of rock.
Men were made to go and find out for sure,
flung there like a little handful of rice
at the wedding of desolation and ruin.
The bride wore a white dress
and her chalky carriage was pulled by moon horses,
made from pale stones and solar winds.
When the astronauts came home,
one of them married an albino ticket taker
from a traveling circus.
Their children were wild--
with black hooves hammered from the spaces behind the stars,
and their bedroom shelves filled with rows of Mane N Tail,
they were vain, high stepping Gypsies.
Farmers wanted to shoot them
for eating all the clouds after midnight
because they wanted to see the moon.
"Grandmother," they said,
"Look at us. We are beautiful."
The kin tie pulled them toward the sky like kind redemption,
Where each night they hovered half-way,
hooves up, heads down, arrayed across the sky
Shining Brightly.
________
This poem is for Real Toads mini challenge #24, featuring a collection of amazing dolls. The one I have written about here was made by Junsung Lee. I think it's gorgeous.
No one dare write a word for this artwork after this...This is the poem that truly belongs it.
ReplyDeleteI love every wildly imaginative line - already it is an iconic memory I will cherish.
PS. That Catblossom is a hard act to follow. Such feline perfection makes the rest of us cower in abject terror at her poetic credentials... or at least stock up on catnip.
ReplyDeleteThe line about the albino ticket taker made me laugh. You come up with the most amazing things, FB.
ReplyDeleteHoly cats, this is awesome!!! The second half gets me all excited ... because seriously, these are my children. I'll say more later after I've read it a hundred times.
ReplyDeleteyour mind is amazing, girl.
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous Shay--full of all your trademark shadows and lights, with myth and modernity married in a language that no one else could begin to duplicate. You know I'm not a quoter but I just can;t hep myself with this one:
ReplyDeleteFarmers wanted to shoot them
for eating all the clouds after midnight
because they wanted to see the moon.
I also was fascinated by this particular doll, but glad I didn't read this first or would never have been able to presume to write to it.
On the hoof or in the sky, the herd is so powerful in this poem--your words make me sigh!
ReplyDeleteHa! Terrific. A lot of grander images here but I particularly like the mane-n-tail's lined up on shelf. k.
ReplyDeleteHooves uppedly and head downedly I approve. Super, super piece. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow I really liked this. So much fun to see what dolls each person picks.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading, I thought the same thing as Kerry. Why would anyone bother to write another word, after reading your wonderful work of pure genius. Too many wonderful new thoughts to even begin listing them. But especially sensational and totally satisfying, are: the wedding of desolation and ruin, moon horses, the hammered hooves,and the eating of the clouds after midnight........pure genius, kiddo. You are in a league all your own. All of your work is amazing, but this is one of my new favorites.
ReplyDeleteYour surrealism approach is a perfect match for this. Seriously, so many unique images that this evokes...I really enjoy that they eat the clouds so that they can see the moon...perfect solution!! I also like the detail of hooves hammered from the spaces behind stars.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work, Shay!!
Well, it's sheer madness--but an enlightened and joyful madness, and damn visual and fine storytelling to boot. That's a pretty fair task to stuff that in a cup, roll it out, and end up with Yahtzee.
ReplyDelete... just want you to know how blown away I am right now! ... 'the kin tie pulled them toward the sky like kind redemption' is an unbelievable line .. I am literally grasping for words.
ReplyDeletePlease, please tell me (even if it's a lie) that you munch 'shrooms every evening, that you dine on peyote in pitabread, that you guzzle Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea laced with LSD...
ReplyDeleteThat would make me happy, knowing that no mortal in a normal state of mind wrote something like this.
so very lovely, Shay!
ReplyDeleteI am in thrall to your talent. . .
signed, 'Supplicant'
Amazing. You've really captured its spirit.
ReplyDeleteI knew you would choose this doll, and you blew this one away! I love so many lines in it that I could have quoted back the entire poem!
ReplyDelete"Farmers wanted to shoot them
ReplyDeletefor eating all the clouds after midnight
because they wanted to see the moon."
can you get any more brilliant? well, stop it!
♥
"moon horses,
ReplyDeletemade from pale stones and solar winds."
and the reference to redemption - it's all so fantastical. I can see this on the sci-fi channel. (I'm totally serious)
I KNEW you would choose this wild and other-worldly creature!
Oh, you have managed the perfect response..."moon horses...eating all the clouds after midnight" Awesome stuff!!
ReplyDeleteyeah, Yahtzee! that's exactly right. :)
ReplyDeleteyour surreal flights of imagination are of breathtaking wonder and intensity.
ReplyDeleteblack hooves hammered from the spaces behind the stars
ReplyDeleteWonderful images, but this was my favourite.
It is an amazing doll, and your creative poem just blows me away!
ReplyDeleteI am so deeply in love with your vast imagination!
ReplyDeleteThe wedding of desolation and ruin... this clever line distracted me so! I read and read again before giving myself permission to follow the hoof-worn path through the rest of the surreal tale. And I loved that, too.
ReplyDeleteThis is perfect. Stunning. Heartstopping. Wow.
ReplyDeleteLove this new mythological tale~ :D
ReplyDelete... those last three stanzas are gripping! (and yes, you put Atlantis in my brain :)
ReplyDelete