I stood on my head for years
and grew glass skin
to keep myself contained.
I stood on the sky
and wept on the ground.
All my birds died of thirst.
I let go and fell up,
became an ocean in all directions
carrying a second sky on my back.
"It's dangerous!" someone screamed
from the shore, but I could hardly hear them
over the wild rush, and shattering roar.
______
for Sunday Muse #203.
I hear a deeper message in these surreal lines. The first stanza is powerful, and I think you really lived that. I love the idea of becoming an ocean in all directions too. This is another amazing poem from you my friend. (I am still standing upside down in a dry spell, so I don't know if I will make it to this prompt either.) :-((
ReplyDeletebut I could hardly hear them
ReplyDeleteover the wild rush, and shattering roar
Beautiful piece, Shay! Somehow it gets me reflecting on the Ukraine question! The sudden flare-up and man-made casualties which could have been avoided!
Hank
Wow. An amazement of a poem.
ReplyDeleteShay--"...an ocean in all directions" made my mouth drop, until the last six words.
ReplyDeleteIncredible, as usual.
Love this. The rush of the final lines, the flip of the world, the shrinking echo of warning, everything just works.
ReplyDeleteHere you turn the expected on its head, and in n inside out way show us a state of mind that echoes displacement and alienation, all in graceful phrases that soar. "..I stood on the sky/and wept on the ground..." For me it expresses the chaos with which life often surrounds us, and the reciprocal upheaval it can cause in ourselves that becomes so habitual it is normalized. Or so I read. Fine, original and powerful writing, Shay.
ReplyDeleteWell this one hit in a good way for I, too, stood on my head for way way too long. The wild rush got me where I needed to be. Thanks for writing this, Shay.
ReplyDeleteDamn. Limber, like how easily a contortionist makes up look down as if it is just all natural. Goes in the book, but then again, almost everything you write these days goes in the book...
ReplyDeleteLoved reading this, over and over...Development of a human... of me too.
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderfully conceived Shay. I love the way you tied together the many impressions and perceptions of the image, and pulled in tautly into your person. Excellent piece.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful, especially how it ends with that final stanza. Just beautiful <3
ReplyDeleteoh, i like this, you turned that simple image into an epic tale, and very succinctly, every element accounted for... very well written
ReplyDelete