kissed me, blamed me for the blood.
I took to pulpit, text became
curse you
and you
and you the same.
I took to keeping tigers fine
right here in Shady subdivision.
Code Enforcement lost their minds,
saying no.
god no,
it's violation.
Tigers, soft as angel's nest,
muscled, purring Detroit dreams,
lay anvil heads upon my breast
and striped my world flame-and-cream.
In back yard buried the barbed wire ring,
more notices drift against the door,
saying
no, just no,
these prohibited things
forbidden, verboten, forevermore.
Tigers sweet as caramel nuns,
teeth smooth and strong as hymns at dawn,
across your tongues devotion runs
in me, with me, on and on.
________
for Sunday Muse 107 .
This is wonderful, and I am going to come back and read it many times. I love the descriptions of the tigers. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteSo many things seem to be forbidden just because they are sweet. This feels like a wild song you might hear if you were lucky one night, out in the jungle under a summer moon. I'm not sure if the extraordinary force of this comes from the kind of defiance that gets stronger the more it is held down, or simply from the magic of the words, but it doesn't really matter.It is a fully fledged perfection in itself. I especially am swooning at the last stanza. A poem only you could write,Shay.
ReplyDeleteOH MY! 'Tigers, soft as angel's nest, muscled, purring Detroit dreams' ~ this line is absolutely wonderful .... tiger tiger burning bright.
ReplyDeleteKudos, Shay, you rang a bell with me. Between me and my best friend, later was my best man at my second wedding, we did those things. I loved your tiger keeping, both of us were like this with the tiger being a mediphor for nonconnformencce. (He grew up in Detroit and was an alterboy in church.) Maybe we all should niw keep a pig or two because of the meat shortage.
ReplyDelete..
"Tigers sweet as caramel nuns" oh my Shay this is one amazing line! Love love love this!!!
ReplyDeleteThey kissed me and blamed me for the blood. I could taste the irony in that. The love in the first stanza which should be praised is cursed. The following stanzas become a testament to a true wild love that others see as forbidden but is the most praise-worthy as "devotion runs across tongues" "sweet as caramel".
ReplyDeleteWow. Just...wow. Those tigers are terrifying in how wonderful you make them seem.
ReplyDelete"lay anvil heads upon my breast
ReplyDeleteand striped my world flame-and-cream" -- Ohhhhhhh.
And this! "Tigers sweet as caramel nuns,
teeth smooth and strong as hymns at dawn"
I too loved that last verse best--and the song. But the narrative of needing to find something sweet to counteract barbs and restrictions is essential to it. I , too, would hole up with these soft, anvil headed allies. "Tyger Tyger burning bright . . . "
ReplyDeleteTigers, soft as angel's nest,
ReplyDeletemuscled, purring Detroit dreams,
lay anvil heads upon my breast
and striped my world flame-and-cream.”
I could see this image so clearly.