offends God--
look it up, Poindexter.
It will be dark again in the morning--
a half star from the night will fall like an acrobat,
and the deaf ear will snow itself silent.
All I wanted was a particular voice of yours;
the soft one, lavender-scented, rare.
I tried to let you know,
but the order of things was already skewed.
Maybe in the fall I'll get you back for one sweet reclaimed hour,
but until then,
stay out of the chronology of my poems,
Stranger.
______
like the time change, i'm thrown off kilter by your poem. :)
ReplyDeleteLook it up, Poindexter-- Hahaha
ReplyDeleteBut the rest isn't so funny. The star, the snow, the hour--I don't believe we get any of it back, at least not unchanged. Leaving before its time can offend God, uha.
so well stated. unassailable and lovely, my Sis
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=
I can see that half star falling like an acrobat. And hear the pain.
ReplyDeleteHate the time change!--I laughed a bit with Poindexter about it--but he didn't say much other than he loved your piece
ReplyDeleteLike this poem a lot. Its fragility. And human smallness in God' s vastness
ReplyDeleteMuch love...
Ah.. that jerk. I actually like this time change and hate the one in the other direction. But you'll be an hour closer to Europe for a few weeks... :-)
ReplyDeleteThe picture could be a post poem view of the Lady of Shallot. The frozen boat and lake strike a melancholy chord which resounds throughout your poem.
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed by how simply and cleanly you create your postcards from the wasteland, which in your ink is rich with life--your love poems that are also loss poems, and the way your words never fail to hit a place in the heart that one hasn't looked at enough, or as well as your poems do, anyway. Perfect, Shay.
ReplyDeleteHoly, wow. This is incredible.
ReplyDeleteA lavender scented voice. Just wow.
ReplyDeletea world askew
ReplyDeletewhen time is out of joint
darkness looms
namaste
jzb
Really nice. I like the seamless flow from the beginning with its touch of toughness and how it flows into gentleness and longing. the photo is amazing as well.
ReplyDelete"Stranger"--with that one word you sum up the distance that comes in a broken relationship, the what once was and is no more. A strongly felt poem, Shay. The image is a fitting accompaniment to your words, too.
ReplyDeleteI love this line: "and the deaf ear will snow itself silent"
ReplyDeleteAnd this line break, drawing out the double meaning in "forward jerk," is so clever: "The time change, this forward jerk"
I understand the title to mean that your leaving was unsaid. Maybe you were giving this relationship a try, perhaps living together, but then feeling like you didn't really know the "stranger" as well as you thought you did; so, of course, you had to get out of there fast ... and without even leaving a note, I imagine.
"Maybe in the fall I'll get you back for one sweet reclaimed hour" ... This makes me think that in a moment of weakness, when the leaves are changing and you're feeling sentimental or lonely, you may return ... but just for an hour. Oh, and I just noticed the double meaning in "get you back," so perhaps Poindexter did something to hurt you and you intend to return the favor.
I like that "offends" could also be "off-ends"; I think this works well with the layer of meaning having to do with the time change --- as if the time change even messes up God's schedule.
Time change...I wish it would remain either or. You have given the proper voice to my dismay at the human fiddling while chasing the sun.
ReplyDeleteand, of course, AZ has to be the odd one out and not change, so i have to figure it out again when we wanna call....
ReplyDelete♥
It's tonight. Get ready to fight! Argh.
ReplyDelete