at breakfast
your smile
made me want to smash it
as bravely fragile things
sometimes do.
at lunch
I called you
like climbing Everest
because it is there
and like a metronome
because it always has.
At dinner
I made something nice
that our son wouldn't eat.
I said,
starve then.
you said,
what would you like instead?
At midnight
you wanted it
but I
kissed the dog,
told him I love him
and rolled away from you
like a pearl
from a broken strand.
______
shared with WGO? open link
I love poems that reference Poe even when I don't catch all the allusions. Here you turn the murderer on their head, making them something lost instead. And then, the murderer is the mountain, and not the pearl. How'd I do? Seriously, I find the tone of this mystery compelling, and all the possibilities luscious.
ReplyDeleteQuite an unpleasant relationship, I would say....But I love the idea of kissing the dog! They never disappoint. Smiles.
ReplyDelete"like a pearl from a broken strand" is a picture-perfect simile to illustrate the break in this relationship which is apparently not so.
ReplyDeleteHow I resonate with "like climbing Everest because it is there." And, especially, kissing the dog.
ReplyDeleteA snapshot of a life perhaps many of us can relate to - perfectly formed..Jae
ReplyDeleteThat final line is heart-wrenching, as is the picture drawn of a relationship in decay. As I may have quoted before, there's an old Irish saying that goes 'the only cure for love is marriage.' I have found it, like this poem, to be one of the most unwelcome but profound truths we can run across in this life. Great similes and uses of language lift this one right over the bar, Shay.
ReplyDelete"like a pearl
ReplyDeletefrom a broken strand."....So very poignant. Images like "bravely fragile things" and "climbing Everest" move us to the core.
Beautiful last line. It comes down hard. Relationships can be a rocky road
ReplyDeleteyou always are so adept at setting mood, especially here
ReplyDeleteThe power of this and the feelings it conveys really captures those complex feelings when relationships go wrong. Suzanne - Wordpress blog - Wayfaring.
ReplyDelete"as bravely fragile things
ReplyDeletesometimes do." -- The power and trembling in your words, Shay, make us tremble too in concert with your heart, in awe of your poetry that makes us feel so.
This hits me in the feels and gut. Nothing harsher than love grown cold.
ReplyDelete