Saturday 28 January 2012

TODAY SHE IS TWENTY-ONE

you drew in from the wrong side
huffing & puffing to collapse
my ribcage & the hollow tones
of the dulcimer ache reward

the elder was no help at all
bent on saddest resignation
that made fun of my efforts
like silence on a battlefield

your tantrums began
where she did trip
two decades earlier

cleaning the stain of tie-dye
from the clever books
she held insecurely

and now we're here
now we're there
handcuffed to the idea
that if I wanted you
I'd simply kidnap you
a story for beer & chips

no steps forward
no steps back
stuck inside a room
with underworked dream-catchers
with nothing to grasp at
but soft pants in the only union
we could command

underworked limbs
underworked tongues
brains that couldn't feed themselves

crucified pride introduced us to
the degrees of pity in love
but left us begging for alms
from strange tenants & twins

your single bed
your single notion
your single act
not planned
as eyes roll, reverse
in no distinction of life

fingerprints on a babe's backside
they all shudder to talk sense
but I rise in anger to accuse
and cry, 'murder!'
at the death & extension
of a child's soul
twenty-one years ago 
today

8 comments:

  1. Powerful and emphatic words that match this obviously incisive experience well. The repeated lines and words enhance the impression of your poem.

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  2. fantastic, matt
    left me gasping for air

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  3. Great work, pass my congratulations to your subject, we are not our childhood, although it's taken me 40 years to almost learn this.

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  4. Very good work, powerful and sad. Good luck. I too am a poet with a body of published work.

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  5. You write with passion dripping from your pen ~

    A pleasure to read your words this morning ~

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  6. Hello.
    My first time visiting here.
    Thought-provoking write indeed.
    Thanks fr sharing.

    Thirsting For Your Love

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  7. Wonderfully crafted poem. Loved reading it.

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