I keep a skull inside my head
like a gravy boat for holidays
stuffed inside a china hutch,
a child sent to its room.
I talk to people at parties,
on the job, riding the bus,
as if I were immortal, the
Eternal Co-Worker, the Passenger Outside of Time.
I act as if there were no skull inside my head.
Is my affectation of skulllessness hideous?
What if I could remove the hidden skull,
would my hideousness become unbearable?
Would this poem float right out of my head?
I keep a skull inside my head
and smile as if I were on stage.
The hidden skull defines my shape,
but will shed me like an old jacket in the end.
Am I unbearable?
Was I unbearable before I said all of this,
or only after?
So now you know, and I know about you as well.
Let's kiss now, don't be bashful
and don't retch.
_________
Your first stanza has stopped me in my tracks with the thought I almost always have when it comes to your imagery, similes and metaphors - the skull like a gravy boat? How do you DO it? I read with amazement and awe, as always. Just so good.
ReplyDeleteLove your definitions of characters, as in:
ReplyDelete"the Eternal Co-Worker, the Passenger Outside of Time." It's so filmic, you can just see this otherworldly creature in the mortal realm not being of it but slipping in and out nonetheless.
Enjoying your books, by the way! Damn, you creepy sometimes! I'll let you know my thoughts once I've read a few (it won't be straight away cos I'm a slow reader) :-)
"Damn, you creepy sometimes!" May I use this as a book blurb some time? It made me laugh.
DeleteHa ha! Yes, of course! :-)
DeleteWhat are we anyway but talking skulls, blithering our way through a morass of primate situations attempting to show we know whereof we speak...I especially like "...I keep a skull inside my head/and smile as if I were on stage./The hidden skull defines my shape,/but will shed me like an old jacket in the end..." Mortality is so inescapably awkward, isn't it? An excellent poem that needs no prompt to flourish its skeletal banner.
ReplyDeleteYou are astoundingly witty! And ingenious. I know there are things we've been told we should keep to ourselves, but I'm glad your poems escape your skull. "uggos of the world unite" just plain made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIf your hidden skull be your poetry, bring it on! Let it be your skeleton key (and ours) to beauty.
ReplyDelete