Direct sun is bad billet for cuttings.
Lily was long-stemmed,
half drunk
half honest
night-starred
giving head to a bottle in a graveyard.
She never chose her own tattoos--
just once born, once baptized,
seven times left crying by the roadside.
Lily likes her Ginny with Georgia lime.
O Lily fair, Lily bright,
gives all her love
to a runaway cat
and salts her bath with anything white.
Lily used to pose on a coffin lid
half sweet
half willing
half live, half dead.
Long-stemmed Lily talking out of her head
to the peonies out by the garden shed.
Of course she loves you,
tap-water blank with soft pale hands.
Lily fair, Lily bright,
long-stemmed Lily in your circle stands
almost straight
almost strong
almost saved, and almost
gone.
gone.
_____
for Camera FLASH! at Toads.
What a wonderful write!!
ReplyDeleteAccompanied by razor castanets ... this is bitchwhistle low, clear cool and DOA. Were such sexybeast growls found in a real bottle, I'd a never gotten sober. Naw, the vibe is opioid, pure peaches, selkie-stare, barbwire brassiere. Other side of the tracks.. Ahhh, where's Hedgewitch? She'd call it broom fuel. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteWOW! This gives the lives of flowers a completely unthought-of dimension. Too many wonderful lines to quote. Loved every word.
ReplyDeleteI like this. In a way, this reminds me of people tearing flowers off wreaths and sprays after a funeral, to remember the person by. Although I know many of them, just wanted free flowers. Bad of m to say so but it is true. Lily lying on the casket lid...rose, lily, daisy - all of the girls displayed. Yes, this is a low growl and slow prowl.
ReplyDeleteWhat a glorious read this poem is. Poor Lily living a life on a tightrope with no good end in sight; what a wonderful interpretative poem reflecting her life bound for a sad demise.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous poem, Shay, with such strong imagery:
ReplyDelete'Lily was long-stemmed,
half drunk
half honest
night-starred
giving head to a bottle in a graveyard'
and
'half sweet
half willing
half live, half dead.
Long-stemmed Lily talking out of her head
to the peonies out by the garden shed'.
Something of this description reminds me of a Holly Golightly character: the vulnerable mixed with the enduring.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this even more reflecting on Kerry's comment. Yes definitely Holly Golightly theme here... a flower with a strength and fragility combined, a laissez faire attitude that (had she been a man) I also recognize from Meursault in the Stranger...
ReplyDeleteEpic. I would love to hear you read this ~~~~
ReplyDeleteOf course she loves you,
ReplyDeletetap-water blank with soft pale hands.
I like the form, and feel to this whole piece. the pace, the beat, it has a hypnotic effect - and when I reach the above noted lines, I'm just a breath away from "oh wow" - what a cool image. "tap-water blank" ....
and the ending is completely fitting - love the line break to really give the weight of the pause before "gone" -
and I agree with Kerry, this really does have a Holly Golightly feel to it, which isn't a bad thing at all.
I want this to be mine SO badly. The rhyme works beautifully.
ReplyDeleteWowza. The rhyme and the extra bit of white space at the end... Incredible.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best thing you've ever written, that's how much I like it. I saw wow, and will add another. Wow! You should submit this somewhere.
ReplyDelete