and a healer for the crack-toothed cats who catch them.
i'm a tall-shelf girl with the boardinghouse reach,
fetching orphans each a blanket and an anthem.
i stitch long blue feathers for my brick birds' backs,
and dog star tails when they fan them.
my oven bakes the bricks til they're light as morning mist,
then the ashes circle sun and moon in tandem.
i'm a weekday angel
whistling for the wrong,
the bruised, the broken,
the disowned in the dawn;
i mix a sweet healing balm,
turn the jar into a song,
roll it out into the street
and then i'm gone.
________
written for Magpie Tales #196, and dedicated to Kelli and Joy, who both like it when I rhyme.
You do more good than most. Can we nominate you for sainthood?
ReplyDeleteGreat piece!
Gotta heal those crack toothed cats Shay
ReplyDeleteThere Mother Nature and here's Mama Human Nature, tending to the heart's chillen. The weave is like an ornate singing-coat inlaid with a blues guitar on the back. Sweet. - brendan
ReplyDelete'i'm a tall-shelf girl with the boardinghouse reach'
ReplyDeletesome days i just marvel at you.
Rhyme at its most perfect, combining form, spirit and function. *swoons* The vision here is so idiosyncratic, yet so universal--the first stanza knocked me back, and then while I was laying cross-eyed and dazed, you stomped me with the rest of it, each line, each couplet more penetrating and more simply beautiful than the last.
ReplyDelete*takes keyboard and turns it into decoupage*
Just exquisite, Shay.
OK! This breathtaking ....
ReplyDeleteme too tho it dont matter if you dont .. you still weave a lovely involving tale
ReplyDeleteOy! Just drop that brick on my head whydoncha. Yeah, you do rhyme well. I also marveled at that tall-shelf girl line. sheesh. ~
ReplyDeleteLove your words. Wish I could think so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Shay,
ReplyDeleteWhile I liked this poem (as usual), it felt like two different poems speed-wise.
The first two verses read slower, like the deep part of a river. They made me pay attention to the words, like "crack-toothed" cats,"tall-shelf" girl," "brick birds backs" and dog star tails.'
The third and fourth were more like the lyrics of a song -- they tripped and danced quickly like fast moving water.
Hey, that's my take, but I did enjoy the read and I also like when you rhyme:~)
Count me in among those that like it when you rhyme. Stellar, Shay.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this I too, felt the shift between stanza's the 3rd one is def my favorite and does have a lyrical
ReplyDeletefeel and I'm always up for some rhyming.
I love it...."and then I'm gone."
ReplyDeleteI wonderful weaving of thought and rhyme.
ReplyDeleteBut Sioux DOESN'T like it when you rhyme ('cause she's jealous like that).
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this!
ReplyDeleteAlways magnificent with nothing to edit.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it's cool, but I don't get it!
Lots of yummy word texture here...always nice to see you at Magpie!
ReplyDeletedelicious.
ReplyDeleteLess is always more.
You. Are. More. x