I am fascinated by you, the vivid dead
winding wire around every bud in the garden
fearing poison in every innocent bed.
Making olive of jade and maroon of red
mixing invitation with heirloom toxin
I am fascinated by you, the vivid dead.
Staking a world with only frayed gray thread
hoarding every sweet fruit left to harden
fearing poison in every innocent bed.
Mixing sugar and rot into every word said
a borer warden of self without pardon
I am fascinated by you, the vivid dead.
Silence the dust-tongue kept in your head
and lie with your twin the idiot watchman
fearing poison in every innocent bed
I am fascinated by you, the vivid dead.
______
A villanelle.
Music: Michael Kiwanuka Cold Little Heart
An excellently executed villanelle. The imagery, as always, is unexpected and amazing.
ReplyDeleteFirst, you've aced the most important point of a villanelle: creating a memorable repeating first line, and following it up with lines that amplify it. The result is that the reader becomes fascinated as well, feels the pull and repulsion. We've most of us known someone like this, who takes the colors and the flowers out of our lives. Just a brilliant, scathing and authentic piece,Shay.
ReplyDeleteYou've put on a masterclass in form and metaphor here! Tightly knit and the use of a villanelle to vividly describe the villainous is poetic genius. (Also, the image is spooky--ha!)
ReplyDelete"Silence the dust-tongue kept in your head" --- Creepy, unwholesome, haunting , "the vivid dead" that won't stay dead. You show us how a villanelle is done to perfection.
ReplyDelete