Have you ever seen a fat man hanging from a tree?
like a pendant suspended
from the throat of a wrinkled old woman?
Have you ever seen a skinny man hauled up
in front of his burning shop?
the plate glass shattered where he used to look out
at the magnolia blossoms in spring?
It gets hot in June in Tulsa. If you leave a skinny man
strung up a few days, you get a fat man
hanging like strange fruit in the devil's grove.
______
for Dverse Poetics: Getting hooked on opening lines.
Music: Nina Simone Strange Fruit
Never mind the opening line. EVERY line of this blew my doors off. Wow.
ReplyDeletedamn. Strange Fruit. and is that past going to return to us under this orange haze ~
ReplyDeleteFrom the first line my mind went to Strange Fruits (Nina Simone's version was new to me)
ReplyDeleteThat opening line is a sucker punch of a hook, Shay, and immediately brought ‘Strange Fruit’ to mind, only I always hear it by Billie Holiday. But then every line of this poem punches, and the ending is as shocking as the opening lines.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your imagery shoots straight through the plate glass window and deep into the flesh and blood behind it. They are still excavating the bodies from the mass graves of the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa. These relics of our past seem especially vivid in the current climate, as what was once far-fetched becomes tomorrow's headlines. A devastatingly simple and terrifyingly real poem, where every line is a hook of its own.
ReplyDeleteThis was an amazing poem, totally unexpected!
ReplyDeleteWonderful imagery, a sensory feast. Great hook line.
ReplyDeleteYou nailed the opening and kept me hooked to the end.
ReplyDeleteAmazing poem from first to last line!
ReplyDeleteWhat a hook! A great tug at my curiosity ... follow the hook, follow the hook, follow the hook. Brava, and thank you for reading mine.
ReplyDeleteyeah, i can definitely smell this poem. amazing work!
ReplyDeleteHoly WOW, Shay! That was awesome!
ReplyDeleteYvette M Calleiro :-)
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
The opening line is such a hook! Gorgeously rendered, Shay 🩷🩷
ReplyDeleteA riveting progression of images, Shay, and of a sketchy narrative.
ReplyDelete