She wandered into the forest.
Summer rolled lazily into leaf-blown fall.
In winter, her hair turned white, as camouflage from ravening beasts.
She crawled into a cave
and lay down with a ravening beast.
Spring arrived.
"Well now," spoke the ravening beast, and she didn't care for his speculative demeanor.
She returned home.
"Well now," said her mother, her brothers, her cousins,
who fell upon her as ravening beasts
disguised as petticoats.
"Now she's an albino."
The year turned.
The girl swam to an uninhabited island
and set up a badminton net as metaphor.
There, she began writing her book of poems,
entitled "Ravening Beasts."
Her hair fell out and she wove a boat from the strands.
"Hey cue ball," came the welcome in the seaside town.
"Hey head case."
Her great spiked crimson heart rolled inside her ribs,
and she breathed fire.
"Crazy fucking bitch," they said,
but no longer to her face.
She was wings and tail and ten feet tall,
a ravening beast come among them.
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for Sunday Muse.
We are known by the company we keep....and so she eventually was! Surreally wonderful.
ReplyDeleteLife journey in four mesmerizing chapters, a wild story told most excellently.
ReplyDeleteI found this captivating and whimsical--not words I usually use to describe your poetry--despite the darker overtones But there is a journey here, and a tale to be told, one of those folk tales that seem as if they might end well, but usually don't. Karma is a ravening beast. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing adventure or odyssey told as only you could my friend! Brilliant and creative to the core! I love it!
ReplyDeleteA very nice modern myth! Or ancient... I really expected a different outcome when she returned home, after laying down with that beast! Her mother's words, "Well now," reinforced my supposition, which was way off!
ReplyDeleteThis is marvelous--the way that she escapes and returns feels like time rolled into something to play with, transformations frightening but earned.
ReplyDeleteFirst: "ravening beasts disguised as petticoats." and "set up a badminton net as metaphor." are just terrific. And the transmogrifier of your poem to take the beasts that beset us to become our own power, 10x.
ReplyDelete“ravening beasts
ReplyDeletedisguised as petticoats”
“and set up a badminton net as metaphor”
“She was wings and tail and ten feet tall,
a ravening beast come among them.”
Fabulous.
Your poem feels like an evolving journey where one learns how to beat the beast
ReplyDeleteis to become beast like. Survival , within a mythical realm of sorts.
I so love this. It reminds me of rising from my bullies. Standing up from all the beaten down I survived. There are times you have to be a beast to fight the claws and teeth that work so hard to destroy you.
ReplyDeleteShe had to be large, a ravening beast to protect herself. Neat story, Shay. I also like your song pick, the Donnas are neat too. My rock favorites are the older ones, classic rock. My son is the drummer in a garage rock band. They play for pay for gigs, either at clubs or openers for a better known band.
ReplyDelete..
This brought "Thelma and Louise" to mind (for me). What a poem. I always love it when the underdog/woman triumphs/gets revenge in the end. And a perfect song choice.
ReplyDeleteI felt like Susie as i read this. The strength shown in the rising up, after so much being put down. Hear us roar. Brilliant write, as always, Shay.
ReplyDeleteAnd that big red heart inside.....glorious!
ReplyDeleteI love the way this poem begins with a brief walk through the seasons and then drops me into a story of female persecution by all kinds of beasts – and ends with the most amazing beast of all, a woman who rises by writing a book of poems and ravening, complete with wings.
ReplyDeleteAn origin story for the ages: Beauty and the beast of a different color! When I enter the/a poem I enter the cave of transformation.
ReplyDelete"Her great spiked crimson heart rolled inside her ribs,
and she breathed fire."
This sounds like a modern day myth/Grimm tale. Love it!
ReplyDelete