I wrap myself around a stem,
serpentine.
A green throat waving, a
Chinatown
dragon
but its teeth are on the leaves
to devour
the sun,
and here I am
in my taxi yellow dress with black frilled cuffs
a vagabond imposter,
a fool in the sky.
The Tiger Moth and I shared a womb,
our mother
a razor blade in an oxblood robe,
sash tied off like a wound.
Colorful sister,
displayer of dialects across each wing,
our delirium
has made us.
Look at the dough-ghosts jeering
as they
sag in a bag of ashes.
Shine, inventing parlance with every flutter.
I wrap myself around the wolfs-bane,
my house a blue
roof over
green walls.
I carry solace sticks in a wicker basket,
tincture of Tiger Moth,
and false sun for pale children slate-stone weary.
I slip into the sky
as if it were a jersey
a Merino
atmosphere
that needs me, like you need me
though you don't know it yet,
poor cold
baby,
mon pauvre petit ange!
______
a second poem for Word Garden Word List--A Season In Hell.
Image at top: Clémence Poésy
Music: The Rolling Stones "She Comes In Colors"
Wow! I especially like the last stanza "I slip into the sky as if it were a jersey"... and then that beautiful, sad ending. Can't believe you write two. I feel you're setting a challenge! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis reads wonderfully. Too many phrases to repeat. Outstanding, as always, and even a bit more. Smiles. Yes, two! How do you do it? And why are you not world famous? Someone in the literary realm is really screwing up. Never mind. You are famous to us.
ReplyDeleteThis too is beautiful. I love the colours that accent each stanza and the short lines, the brief telling, it's almost like Chinese characters translated, and a scene in a marketplace with herbs, a filmic imagining. And damn, I am so here for that taxi yellow dress and dragon tea :-)
ReplyDeleteToo many amazing lines, but especially this: "The Tiger Moth and I shared a womb, / our mother / a razor blade in an oxblood robe,/ sash tied off like a wound." Wow.
ReplyDeleteBreathtaking, Shay. I am imagining you in bright yellow right now / a jersey, not the dress.
ReplyDelete