You think I am broken,
moon-damaged,
pepper on the pudding you've melted the world into,
thrust into little glass cups,
ruined by the seasoning of my inventive curses.
Won't you soften, just a bit,
and step out onto the precipice with me?
We can march to our own drumbeat, here,
high above the street.
I am tall enough that you could kiss or climb me;
bite the bullet, chew the notion.
Pretend that we have taken the water-carriage all the way to Trinidad
and that you actually like calypso music,
new things,
and my ways.
As we rapidly take on water,
I'll say something cryptic, yet suggestive,
and you will believe again.
Fancy the healing our colliding idiocies can fashion!
Can we just close our eyes,
forget about leverage and vengeance
long enough to be in the moment,
teetering,
one foot each in mid-air,
the other cramping
and the dumb greedy ground yawning below.
You can never master me, you know,
but we can affect a certain edgy hipness.
We shall wear exoskeletons like crickets,
and when night falls, we shall touch our index fingers together
in the divine joke that is us, and say,
"BANG," darling.
It is the only way we will ever fall.
______
for Get Listed at Real Toads, where Timoteo has given us a list of 20 words, and I have used every one because I am a good and obedient girl.
So hard to be this original with a list of words--except if you happen to be named Fireblossom. If I were of a quoting propensity, I would be quoting a line or two from every stanza, starting with 'pepper on the pudding' and probably dithering on through every line, because once you start...
ReplyDeleteLong story short, this is fun, bittersweet, tender, resilient writing, and I loved every word.
This is brilliant, Shay. Each word has been used in the most unique way (pepper on the pudding!) and, as always, you take us all to the edge of the precipice and remind us how far we have to fall.
ReplyDeleteUnder the weather but over the moon. Seamless listing.
ReplyDeleteI'm speechless girl - that was fantastic!
ReplyDeleteCan I say with complete confidence which 20 words you were given?
ReplyDeleteNo. That's how good it is. The poem doesn't even have a whiff of "here's-a-word-that's-out-of-place."
It's a wonderful, stand alone piece...
***we shall touch our index fingers together
ReplyDeletein the divine joke that is us, and say,
"BANG," darling.
It is the only way we will ever fall.***
Great language. I LOVe. Love.
"Moon-damaged?" Moon-blessed, I say, with brilliance. And oh that dumb greedy ground yawning below. A brilliant write.
ReplyDelete"I am tall enough that you could kiss or climb me"
ReplyDeleteThat has to be one of my favorite lines ever!
What a great line: "Fancy the healing our colliding idiocies can fashion!"
ReplyDeleteI love the ending.