I was playing cards against my own poem, penny a trick
and
had
lost
thousands.
"I brought you into this world," I began,
but she turned into a fog of lemon-fresh Glade,
then to a tiger wearing a bell,
and sat there smiling at me like a dime store Buddha.
She had the keys to me, that's the trouble,
and took them with her when she went.
Strangers know me backward and forward
and I can only stammer at them, clueless and dizzy.
She turns me to a gawky bird standing in the sawdust on one leg
while she builds her house around me.
I am password protected, listed on the National Registry
and greenies stick spikes in me so she can't cut me down.
I lay an ace and she
spreads out a peacock fan of kings and queens,
Russians and Persians,
lilacs and shade-loving violets.
I am playing cards with my own poem, stanza a hand,
and
I
am
broke
but a newer poem brings me coffee, licks my ear
winds his slender self around me like a climbing vine as I
sweetly purr, "and I can take you out of it."
_______
For Word Garden Word List -- T S Eliot.
Music: Josiah Bell Change In The Weather
This was amazing to read - as always, you put words and thoughts together that no other mortal can do as well. Too many wonderful lines to quote. All I can do is drink it down deep, and admire your talent. I have so many favourites of yours - likely hundreds - this is now among them.
ReplyDelete"She turns me to a gawky bird standing in the sawdust on one leg
ReplyDeletewhile she builds her house around me." Just one of the lines I can identify with. Also love the way turnabout becomes fair play and you learn to use her own words against her ... by becoming her. Riveting poetry, Shay. A home run.
Just wonderful, Shay. The whole concept. The myriad images wound around with compassion and humour. And those poems - controlling and controlled. So relatable!
ReplyDeleteI love the playfulness of the listed words used here. The falling words in the beginning and in the end reminds me of tears. But wait, there is the "newer poem". So love this.
ReplyDeleteSo clever and fun to read. This is like a waterfall. "And sat there smiling at me like a dime store Buddha." Just one of the lines I love. I'm always broke when writing a poem, trying to make sense of the mess in my head. I tried but couldn't use as many words as you so adroitly did!
ReplyDeleteGreat images of reminds me of a maze of images - perhaps a bit of "Alice" in here. Well done.
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza had me grinning from ear to ear, and the slightly threatening, slightly mocking tone continues really through the entire poem. I love the perspective you've chosen, as one who can both bring a poem into the world, or just as easily take it out, on the turn of a card. (That last stanza is my absolute favorite.) A brilliant and very original piece, Shay.
ReplyDeleteI love the surrealism in this scene, it gave me Alice in Wonderland vibes. My favourite lines:
ReplyDelete"I am password protected"
"I lay an ace and she
spreads out a peacock fan of kings and queens"
"I am playing cards with my own poem, stanza a hand"
I absolutely love this Shay! We write poems that are so much the depth of us and they do have a life of their own. The view you have shown and how brilliant and unique it is totally knocks it out of the park! Your poetry always puts me in awe my friend!
ReplyDelete