Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Ambition

I am not the girl for you.
Mornings and evenings, 
I am lost in the roil and flock of myself.

Here is the hungry
coming out from me,
motion by slim margins denied.

I'm all sharp looks,
resenting restraint,
ready to die
if by dying I rise.

Do you think
you're the sky?
You look to me like a stick on strings,
a store-bought bell.

I weigh 
nothing,
amount to
nothing,

like love, or thermals.
But instinct drives me,
driven spiral-mad to know

That the rodent heartbeat of my inborn ambition
is out there,
stirring the leaves,
heading for its hole,

While I strain and scream,
knowing I can never spot it 
from here.
______
 

21 comments:

  1. WOW! The fierceness, the rodent heading for its hole, the power of your words - fantastic!

    ReplyDelete
  2. "I'm all sharp looks,
    resenting restraint"

    I have never understood the need to cage or leash a bird. Though, having been once a potential target for a turkey buzzard, I pity the rodent's place in the food chain.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is quite simply STUNNING, Shay. I am at a loss for words to express how much I identify with this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I do love your bird-girl poetry, Shay!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I feel like a field-mouse now... I think a leash would be unwise.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 'Lost in the roil and flock'--what a phrase--simply exceptional work with the metaphor here, consistent through every line, and every image one of a kind yet primal and instantly recognizable, like pain or fire. The third and fourth stanzas just stopped me in my tracks--deep breath--feel the chill of looking at something you only want to look away from. Just stellar writing, Shay.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "I'm all sharp looks." What a line.

    ReplyDelete
  8. stunning write, as usual!

    haven't been by for a while. your work just gets better with time.

    thanks for sharing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. As a writer, you're such a chameleon. Your tone, your word choice, the rhythm... you take on whatever subject you're writing about.

    I can't fathom how you do it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. There's so much spirit and intensity in here, outstanding!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, and the bird got me too..... Always been drawn to them. Had an owl living in our tree once, my totem, and then of course I have the 'miniature' version, an African grey parrot.... But your guy is a hunter!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love your bird's eye poetry. :) rodent heartbeat of my inborn ambition...Great line!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Discernment of spirits is one of the gifts of baptism by firewater. Here is a native Ameican myth that molts into a fable of love that raptors screaming to the heart of the heart of the heart of poetry: now that is Ambition. Some poems unlock themselves from reading the title and proceeding, others wait for us to go back and read the title to understand. Yours nailed the latter after descending a burning ladder. Amen.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hey Shay--the whole poem very vivid and gripping, but last two stanzas particularly compelling I thought--very palpable and original--thanks. k.

    ReplyDelete
  15. ready to die
    if by dying I rise

    Wow. Lots of really cool wording in this. I like it a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is stunning,...pulsating.
    I've written quite a lot of poetry, just not brave enough to put it out there.

    Thank you for stopping by my blog.

    I am happy to find yours. I will be back from time to time.

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  17. Fun to read, but hardly autobiographical. No, I imagine you're the Happy Homemaker type, in pearls and apron. Still, you can write circles around most everyone I see. la la mosk

    ReplyDelete
  18. "... I can never spot it from here." Love that.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hear. You. Roar!!!
    Loved this, Shay.
    Happy, happy New Year!
    xo jj

    ReplyDelete
  20. Be passionate and unapologetic for all you are...love this!

    ReplyDelete
  21. the 4th stanza, especially, for me... ~

    ReplyDelete

Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?