Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

A Slip Of The Tongue

I was slack-jawed, sleeping,
Dreaming of fences, birds, festival,
Discarded saints and elevated gypsies,

When my tongue slipped out of my mouth
And went straight to you.

It said things, glorious things, bold things,
And it did things, too;
Things that brought it home lolling, full of itself,
Trailing cats and canaries like confetti.

From that time on,
Though my tongue is back, my control over it is gone.
It whispers to me when I am
Slack-jawed, sleeping, dreaming of waterfalls, blooming arbors, suns burning in the faces of rivers...

The power of my tongue compels me,
And I go straight to you.

I say things angels envy;
I do things the damned haven't thought to try.
My tongue declares you devil's food,
And leaves us to our own devise.
_______

13 comments:

  1. "I do things the damned haven't thought to try."

    I love that!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loose lips may sink ships, but tongues like this surely will float that boat instead. I love that whole first stanza--'elevated gypsies, indeed...'suns burning in the face of rivers' is also memorable and beautiful, and I'll stop there because I could say similar stuff about almost every line.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The power of the tongue..."slipped out of my mouth and went straight to you..." (like it has a mind of its own). Well, apparently it does!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "It said things, glorious things, bold things,
    And it did things, too;
    Things that brought it home lolling, full of itself,
    Trailing cats and canaries like confetti."

    What a gorgeous, powerful image. It makes naughty quite nice to contemplate...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Loved this, Shay. A slip of the tongue has never been so powerfully charged.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I think of all the words left unspoken and deeds undone, I can only applaud the proactive attitude of the speaker in this poem. Brava.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wowzers. "dreaming of waterfalls, blooming arbors, suns burning in the faces of rivers...." Sigh. Fantastic poetry!

    ReplyDelete
  8. you ever hear the song slip of the tongue by faster pussycat? it was a late eighties hair band song...it popped in my head as i read this...oh that tongue gets so full of itself...smiles...hot write shay

    ReplyDelete
  9. The best attributes Here, in my opinion? The pride, the power, both claimed. No shame. It's a proclamation.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Last stanza is so VERY strong! Follow that tongue.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love this repeated line:

    "I was slack-jawed, sleeping,"

    And, bam, this is ... well, it leaves me speechless:

    "I say things angels envy;
    I do things the damned haven't thought to try.
    My tongue declares you devil's food,
    And leaves us to our own devise."

    ~Shawna
    (rosemarymint.wordpress.com)

    ReplyDelete
  12. hot, mama!

    {putting my tongue back in my mouth}

    ReplyDelete
  13. One of the ones I like best. Damn, they just keep coming. You make me feel almost like a polygamist in that I can't choose which one I love best(smile).

    ReplyDelete

Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?