Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

The Drowsing Moon

 


"Take the ribbon from your hair

shake it loose and let it fall"

--Kris Kristofferson


The moon drowses now, in her compartment

made of asters on a train to the sea

and she seeks in her dream the department

of missent lilies, mislaid carelessly.

Her petition is dancing so sweetly

that the gods search their memories for tears

to stitch where her silver crescent appears.


The moon is blemished now, by dawn and time

and the train master calls for her sorrow

to be served as gin with a wedge of lime

and then forwarded on to tomorrow

where what they can't buy, the asters borrow

a mixing of winds as a bandage to bind

her with thread of forgetting, serpentined.

_____

for Tuesday Poetics: Fay Collins

art by Fay Collins

this poem is a rhyme royal


15 comments:

  1. You had me at "made of asters on a train to the sea." I liked "the department of missent lilies". An eloquent piece, rife with sorrow. with hope put like a spiderweb between the lines.

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  2. Wow, Shay! This rhyme royal weaves dissonant images seamlessly together, the meter never missing a beat on this melancholic train ride. It has the fearlessness of nursery rhymes, seemingly nonsensical but with an internal consistency of hidden emotion demanding activity, in this case leaving the pain, the binding of wounds. Absorbing, riveting poetry to read again and again.
    Pax,
    Dora

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  3. Sorrow served as gin with a wedge of lime. I love that.

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  4. Effortless, gorgeous. The form supports and exalts rather than overwhelms (as so much rhyme is wont to do) - and the close: the bitter and sweet hope of forgetting. Superb. ~

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  5. Exquisite poetry, Shay! That image of the moon 'served as gin with a wedge of lime' will stay with me.

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  6. What a beautiful use of form! This just flows so gorgeously, the imagery is dreamlike and delightful, and all sorrow should be served with a slice of lime.

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  7. The form suits the spirit of the poem, wistful, serene in sorrow that has been paid for and is now a curio to be dusted off occasionally for the memories. the first time I read it, I didn't even notice the rhyme, the second, it was like music. I especially love the asters, in all their incarnations here, and in the final lines, especially. Dreamy dreams, indeed. Just beautiful.

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  8. I really love that this might be about someone you met at work. All the mail terminology—it very much makes me want to hear the real story. :)

    I also love imagining it being about a girl observed in a mental ward, perhaps being written about by a poetic nurse. The train master is her therapist, and the silver crescent is maybe a scar on her wrist. The bandage at the end (my favorite part) is a straitjacket. The asters are those who attend to her, hold her down, medicate her.

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  9. You fiil that water with moons and sadness.

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  10. Thank you each and all for the wonderful comments.

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  11. Beautiful piece Shay, and I really like the form — and I am not usually a form fan. Wonderful imagery of the moon, a favorite poetic subject for me. Excellent!

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  12. This is excellent... I feel that that the train leads nowhere in the end... just goes on and on. Love all the great lines, and it reminds me of the lyrics in a song by Chris de Burgh called "Spanish Train", a long time since I listened to that one.

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  13. Love all the imagery, especially liked, "The moon is blemished now, by dawn and time," it is so evocative! ❣

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