Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Chamber Duet

See how I love you, darling,
Risking my favorite gray ankle boots to go skittering down the rotten-leaf path to the marsh,
Wearing my delicate little gloves and an old-lady cardigan against the chill damp?

Don't try to hand me any shit about how you love sailors now,
And how they float their bones up from salt water to this place,
To sing shanteys to you--
Here, where you percolate in the shallows like a Quadroon turned to wax.

My frail sweetheart,
Look at you, what's become of you.
There was a time when you could char the moon's pale edges simply by looking up;
Don't I know it better than anyone?
There was an age--was it sixteen?--
When a lack of you was a dearth I couldn't endure.
Now, if I move you at all,
It is with the edge of a cypress branch,
To roll you like a dismal log in a fire of rot.

We really cared once, you know it's true;
But these days we are sophisticated--
Everything must be de rigueur and scripted to within an inch of its life.
Go ahead, I release you for all time--
Be the anima for your little sailors as they dance out from sharks' mouths and surround you,
As stultifying as ease.

I will use tiny silver clippers to trim the soulful timbre from the cello,
Rendering it a balsa fiddle;
A repository of false notes and refined choking,
A waterside abomination,
Our love song evermore.
_____

for Monday Melting Week 2. I had to use the following words: timbre, derigueur, percolate, marsh, char, damp, frail, dearth, wax and anima. 

23 comments:

  1. seriously...this is like the 15 poem you posted in two days...you are putting others to shame...ok so maybe you just make me feel bad...smiles. you deserve an award or something. where is my glitter...

    Now, if I move you at all,
    It is with the edge of a cypress branch,
    To roll you like a dismal log in a fire of rot.

    nice. emotive...


    and the abomination...our love song...nice...

    now i will go catch a rabbit and glue glitter on it just for you...

    it may be a long night.

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  2. You are a poetic goddess ... as we've all said many times before. And yes, perhaps the tiniest bit of a show-off. And I'm so glad you are. Someone should be. :)

    Love these:

    "they float their bones up from salt water"

    "There was a time when you could char the moon's pale edges simply by looking up"

    "Everything must be de rigueur and scripted to within an inch of its life."

    Thank you, Shay, for raising the bar at the Monday Melting.

    ~Shawna
    (rosemarymint.wordpress.com)

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  3. I agree with Brian--someone has to tie you down and stop you before the rest of us start burning our writing materials and/or hair off. Yeesh. I really like the word list--and your poem kind of rocks and rolls all over it. I love the swamp witch mood of this one--a lot. So the past becomes interred, never shaken and rarely stirred, and then only at arm's length, de rigeur That last stanza is some bitter chicory brew to wash it all down with, too.

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  4. Ditto to what everyone's said and I especially like the tone.

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  5. you ARE a poetic goddess!


    Aloha from Waikiki
    Comfort Spiral

    > < } } ( ° >

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  6. Nothing like a well-placed curse word, I always say :).

    I really enjoyed this one.

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  7. "I will use tiny silver clippers to trim the soulful timbre from the cello,
    Rendering it a balsa fiddle;
    A repository of false notes and refined choking,
    A waterside abomination,
    Our love song evermore"

    The last stanza is my favorite, but like everyone else, my mind is boggled. You took that weird list of words, and created THAT?

    (Shay must be stopped. ;)

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  8. You rose to the challenge and conquered it. Very cool, Shay.

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  9. This tastes bitter sweet - the fall from grace and love, and the longing to go back to times shared in joy.
    So many excellent motifs, among them the sailor's bones and the moon's pale edge.

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  10. and you used them well .. now cool them down and let them rest ...

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  11. And, with a word list no less! I'm off to burn my hair and writing materials . . .

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  12. I look at the word list and go: "Impossible!" and wander away to make a cup of coffee. And look what you did with it. But you're just clever that way. Great writing, Shay - and the cool thing about you having time off is we get to read more of your wonderful poems. Who needs to write? I think I'll just sit here a while and wait for your next one? hee hee.

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  13. I was enchanted as soon as I came across your blog this morning - am following and will be back to read and explore more.

    I also wanted to let you know that I have presented you with the Leibster Blog award - please visit my blog for more details. Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your award! ~ Julie

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  14. "...char the moon's pale edges". Love it!

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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  15. Wow, this is great. I love the first stanza. And "a repostiory of false notes and refined choking."
    Great job with the words!

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  16. You are a 'songstress' in my mind and heart. Your voice, your pitch, your verses are quite soothing. Don't wake me, let me sleep in this bed of melifluous bed springs. thank you for singing to me.

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  17. Once again, I find myself saying, "How does she come up with that?!!" It reads so effortlessly on the page. You are just amazing, girl!

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  18. Such an angry piece, but this line was beautiful:

    "I will use tiny silver clippers to trim the soulful timbre from the cello,
    Rendering it a balsa fiddle"

    Very well done!

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  19. You deserve each and every accolade!

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  20. I bow to your greatness. That was amazing.
    xo jj

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  21. First of all, great use of the words. I had to look some of them up:~)

    The lines that got me were these:

    "Now, if I move you at all,
    It is with the edge of a cypress branch,
    To roll you like a dismal log in a fire of rot."

    Oh, that's chilling.

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  22. Did you read Glenn's poem "Jambalaya," written using the word list? I think you'll like it.

    http://bibliosity.blogspot.com/2012/01/jambalaya.html

    ~Shawna
    rosemarymint.wordpress.com

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  23. i would NEVER have guessed that you wrote this using a word list, SP! it's so brilliant... so evocative... so full of striking imagery... so SHAY!

    i'm going to stop calling what i write poetry...

    {sigh}

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?