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| Dream caused by the flight of a bee round a pomegranate~Dali |
Black
Velvet
When the claw hammer came down
it was
wrapped in black velvet,
soft as
the glimmering
mermaid
eye of night.
The delicate
smash was
tied up
in scarlet,
a thin
cord that throbbed
an umbilicus
of darkness from
shadow
to form.
After the
shatter, one piece
of the wreckage
was curt as a heartbeat, thin as
a moth's tongue, small as blood-drops
from poet's
dreams, lover's minutes
but
inside washed the ocean,
selkies' coral-lace palaces,
the
faerie summit dancing
under
the hill.
Cast off were the crackings,
the
beast with nine heads,
the
cackling kraken, the half-broken
tigers, the
wolfen brigade;
all howled
from the rupture
furred in red mourning
and tears for the one
and tears for the one
who
can't tell
them apart.
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| The Dream~Damien Hirst |
~March
2013
posted for real toads
Challenge: Fireblossom Friday
The inimitable Fireblossom asks us "to write a poem about a crack, fissure, rupture, split, or breaking point."
Images via wikipaintings.org, may be under copyright and are posted under fair use guidelines. All copyright belongs to the copyright holders.
Before composing myself for a comment, I read your tags and thought how well each phrase sums up what I want to say about this poem but cannot articulate. It makes me feel the way I do when falling into abstract art: awestruck, entranced by the vision and in wonder at the mind that conceives. Thank you for his beautiful mindscape, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteand if your heartbreaking imagery wasn't enough, you slaughtered with your final three lines. Thin cord, moth's tongue, the splinters furred; and the imminent power of subtle in an arena of beasts. great work, Hedge.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's it. I'm shaving my head.
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh so loud! :D
DeleteMe too...
Deletedang...what got me most was the close actually...those that cant tell the difference...they are the ones that hurt my heart you know....the breaking as well to get to the real stuff..sometimes that is what must happen...
ReplyDeleteFull of so much wonderful use of words and imagery--and that last line so strong! Well, done.
ReplyDeleteI loved this, hedgewitch. Such gorgeous imagery and a tension that only a crack or fissure could cause.
ReplyDeleteI like the dark umbilicus(!) and the truly inspired and poetic similes and animal images illustrating the vast differences in proportion and weight between the 2nd and third stanzas. It's Dali-esque indeed, but for all that, it's got a clarity at its heart.
ReplyDeleteThanks for gracing my challenge with such a remarkable poem, Hedge. Shall we pitch in and buy MZ a hat?
I hear scarves are the happening thing these days. I try not to think of mine as a bandage. Thanks Shay--great challenge.
DeleteYour similes are simply lovely! This was magic.
ReplyDeleteDarn good write..the second stanza really struck me as a powerhouse of words..
ReplyDeleteI am at a loss for words, this is simply amazing. Every line, every word.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully original imagery and ideas. Also there is a wonderful subtle shape here - the beginning with the claw hammer and ending up with all these clawed things on the outside - the detritus. (Nobody likes to be detritus.) The beginning with the tie in scarlet - and ending with all that bloody fur. The umbilicus of darkness from shadow to form is actually probably my favorite line - but all those descriptions great too . (I am too tired to write more.) But I like that one could read the final tears also as tears - (like more fissures) so that there are not only the crackings off for all those actively kind of manic-vicious ones - but tears (rips) for those that can't tell the difference. --Like a Dantean lesser circle of hell for the oblivious, non-discriminating. Of course, I can read it the other way too - as sympathetic and compassionate for those. But I think there are always resonances that are worth sounding as give a greater richness (like an echo).
ReplyDeletek.
Too wonderful: "small as blood-drops from poet's dreams", and "all howled from the rupture furred in red mourning". Oh my. Incredible writing!
ReplyDeleteI'm awestruck at your descriptions and images created.
ReplyDeleteThank you so very much for sharing.
Peace
Siggi
Your whole poem was like a painting, pulling so many different images and colours and feelings. The last line was heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and best wishes for your book :)
okay, you know you're in trouble when the spam right above you is more insightful than what you considered saying. sigh.
ReplyDeletethis took me from horror to something else, brilliantly. maybe i should try barking louder!
I can't stop laughing so loud....first MZ and then that profit margin and now this....
DeleteI can see I'm going to have to stop allowing anonymous commenting. ;_) Though this one is classic spambot, I must admit. I will delete it because of the link being likely not a good thing, but save the text here:
DeleteAnonymous wrote:
When all the other dogs in the pound are barking, trying to
bark louder will only get you noticed for the wrong things.
Profit margins are suffering in the meantime and there is a long list of companies
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you think when a new potential supplier approaches you with the selling phrase, "I'm as good as the one you use now".
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The picture you have conjured up is surreal. I got to see new words and stylish construction. I wish you would add a bit of your idea's breakdown as a footnote so that newbies like me could validate our understanding of your words.
ReplyDeleteCertainly one of my favorites! Really wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I stepped into a prism with this read; piercing shadow, casting light and leaving me awe-inspired. The stuff of mythological legend told with a crunch. I don't think any poet I've encountered online does this as well as you do.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteA song for Jewel . .. ?
Nice listen