please pardon the confusion--
mine,
yours,
the weather's.
Today in group they wanted us to talk about
someone who really loves us.
I started to laugh
like slipping on ice
I couldn't wave myself fast enough
to save a fall
and the laughing became an ugly cry.
They like us to do things with our hands here
so I made
a love potion for you.
Yeah, too late. like checking a smoking oven.
But,
I can still portion by intuition
like how much to kiss you in the morning.
I used
a pinch of rust from a love lock
the memory of five black tulips
and 1 tsp essence of caramel fudge ice cream--
Jeff Buckley ballads to taste
baked at 350 until the moon turns silver like your poetry.
Gosh Katie,
they took away my books,
said I needed to engage with others.
I went back to group today and said, whoa, back up--
let's do that thing
from yesterday.
I pulled my shit together this time, not like before,
and I said,
Katie mon amour
Katie je t'aime je t'aime, je t'aime.
This one bitch goes, you're not French,
you're not even Canadian you fucking freak
But she never stumbled drunk up the stairs with you,
poetry ringing in our ears and the summer night on our skin.
More to be pitied than scorned,
I can hear you say.
Anyway,
love ya girl
Katie mon amour,
Our Lady of Tulips and the Silver Moon.
________________
for Dverse Poetics, "From Your Valentine" hosted by Sanaa.
Music: Chantel Chamberland-- Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!! Again, you slay me, you blow me away. Your talent and imagination know no bounds. I love this so much - too many lines to quote. But i really love the stumbling up the stairs and the love ya, girl.
ReplyDelete👏👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteA great combination of the prompt options, Shay, which resonated with me. I love the conversational tone, so natural, and the setting of the group, so realistic, and the simile ‘I started to laugh like slipping on ice’ – I know that feeling. The love potion is inspired, especially ‘baked at 350 until the moon turns silver like your poetry’.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this ~ the love potion, the tone, the setting and of course this part; "I can still portion by intuition like how much to kiss you in the morning," is so artistically woven, Shay!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing to the prompt 🩷🩷
In the ouija for the outre this one spells a silver moonful of the mad divine. Amen.
ReplyDeleteI've not enough words of praise to do this justice - it reads like the best of letters - spoken , half constructed, words tumbling out like saying all those things you wished you'd said at the time - a smoking retrospective from a therapy room.
ReplyDeleteThis is stellar, love the story told in the letter with just enough details left to make me paint me imagine everything about that group... prison or asylum... the back and forth and the recipe, really really good.
ReplyDeleteThe voice in your poem is fabulous! I absolutely loved it!
ReplyDeleteYvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
"poetry ringing in our ears and the summer night on our skin" ...mmmm. And "I can still portion by intuition
ReplyDeletelike how much to kiss you in the morning." Gorgeous. Also, caramel fudge ice cream really sounds good right now.
Wow, vivid, painful, confusion reigns. A lover, a love potion, a need to engage with others and a powerlessness overarching it all. I would like to read Katie's reply if that is OK.
ReplyDeleteShay this is amazing, I also need to read Katie's reply and at least one more letter from 'She Who Is Being Held Captive.' So curious about 'letter writer.' Only you, only you can spin thoughts / inspiration this way and I LOVE it.
ReplyDelete"..I started to laugh/like slipping on ice.." What could capture the fragility of sanity better? This poem illustrates the workings of emotion upon our reason, and how love defies all forms of mental constraint and control...and it's just a beautiful, exquisite piece of writing.
ReplyDeleteit's beautiful, of course - your pen - and deeply affecting. Buckley, indeed, pulsing through it ~
ReplyDelete