Two parents, tidy as mints on a pillow,
produce three children who float into the world
like bewildered but bright confetti.
The first lives inside a camera,
clothed in instructions and operating
the mechanism from within.
The second lives in the courtyard,
raised remotely from an upstairs window
by the detached shadow of the first.
The third grows inside a smoker
and can barely see. It is assumed she will be
a servant or a sparrow, but she is a fissure.
The second hates the first
and hides inside the family car,
finally using it to elope with an accident.
The first is made of mirrors,
the second of fists. The third grows
eyes on her palms and holds them up.
The first is successful and becomes a living myth.
The second is successful and has a skin of diamonds.
The third is on fire, shifting in the wind.
This is the story of the farmer's wife
she cut out their hearts with a carving knife
have you ever seen such a sight in your life
as this family, so proper and nice?
________
for Word Garden Word List--The Silent Patient.
Such an atmospheric poem - it reads effortlessly and really draws you into the tale - and I love how you end with the nursery rhyme. They always are sinister - Jae
ReplyDeleteDevastating and cuts to the bone. That fourth stanza is like a blinding flash, and the following ones amplify and I want to say exalt, the central motif. brilliant and unsettling poem, Shay.
ReplyDeleteThe first two are so recognizable, "self-made," having "arrived," "complete" in themselves. But the third is incandescent, becoming, arriving, alive and transcending. Not above it all. But in spite of it all. The farmer's wife may have cut out her heart only to find it has taken on new life, "on fire, shifting in the wind." You've unleashed a poem on us that hints at the power of the "wind" to move and sustain even a "sparrow," Shay.
ReplyDeleteAh - family dynamics is always interesting and not always pretty! "Proper and nice" - I don't think so!
ReplyDelete"The third grows eyes on her palms and holds them up" really speaks to me. This poem is a powerful look at family dynamics behind the public persona : "tidy as mints on a pillow" unless you live on the other side of the door. The closing stanza is the perfect ending to this amazing poem.
ReplyDeletemakes me think of Gaiman, but sharper and more fearless. what an amazing write ~
ReplyDeleteFamilies can be bright or dark, or in truth a bit of both. You explore this with a depth that is haunting, and engaging. Amazing poetry Shay
ReplyDeleteAnother poem that is deep and wide with amazing imagery that makes us see what we could not have thought of. Oh the things some families don't show from the front. I have known exactly this with one that we were close to years ago. I always think when I read the next poem from you that I cannot love another as much, but you always produce another that draws me oh so close!
ReplyDeleteThis brought to mind Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Fantastic, and it kept me rapt from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is incredible. Just vivid and chilling and visually disturbing in the most compelling way.
ReplyDelete