Canned Tulips
There was deep night asleep behind your eyes
black as the moon's turned face that lives
cold and dead behind her shine
but still like her, you smiled the sky.
Our vices were soft clinging things
pink and innocent as a child's clean hands
petulantly pulling at the dolls of our virtues,
lead angels falling on their sparrow wings.
We drove to Texas for the secret stones
but we only found the hardrock end.
The Gulf rains erased our cartoon faces,
the sharks circled in and ate our bones.
When the ambulance came you stood alone
with no can-opener for all the tulips you'd canned,
peeled like an orange to your soft sweet core,
while I cried a pool in the sand's sucking bowl
for the sky to come down
in your smile and make us whole.
April 2025
posted for Word Garden Word List
and
D'Verse Poet's Pub
Images: Tulips in a Milk Carton, 1989 ©Paul Wonner Fair Use
Sharks, ©Utagawa Kuniyoshi Public Domain
Wow, Hedge. I had to stop to drink in the beauty of your opening stanza. Just wow. I love "Lead angels falling on their sparrow wings." And your closing brings the emotion full circle and hits the heart. Sigh. Your poems are so worth waiting for. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteThank you dear Sherry.
DeleteOmG, Hedge! I feel shaken by this--by its beauty and its subtle horror. You have said what I was going for in mine, but yours makes me want to put away my tinkertoys and see how a master does it. Wow. I'm not blowing smoke up your skirt, either, this poem moved me, brought tears to my eyes. Your first two stanzas are state of the art, if you will, just incredibly well composed. Then we get the trip to Texas and spiral out of the counterfeit sky of self-deception and into the pool made of tears as a home for the hard truth to make us--both the characters and the reader--whole. As Sarah McLaughlin (sp?) sang, "Hold on...hold on to your heart. This is going to hurt like hell." This poem is as gorgeous as a field of Texas bluebonnets and as devastating as a sucker punch. It's a mic drop of a poem.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Shay. This means a lot coming from you.
DeleteI'm on my third reading - savoring, really - letting the words tumble from my inadequate lips. I'll read it more, too. Re-visiting your site does that, of course - gives me reason to love words and the worlds you searingly craft, like no one else.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how often you look at dVerse (maybe even less than me, but then I've been preoccupied with work of late), but this perfectly fits the Poetics prompt today, with that superb first line hook. ~
Thanks, M. I haven't posted to dVerse for quite awhile. Thanks for the suggestion.
DeleteWhat a wonderful opening stanza.
ReplyDeleteYour opening lines are amazing, hooked me into your poem immediately, which is so stunning I had to read it again… and again. I love the phrase ‘you smiled the sky’, the 'lead angels falling on their sparrow wings', and the thought of needing a can-opener for those tulips.
ReplyDeleteThank you, and thanks for an excellent prompt.
DeleteI love your opening lines as it sets the mood for me. This imagery stood out for me: The Gulf rains erased our cartoon faces,
ReplyDeletethe sharks circled in and ate our bones. Good to read you, smiles.
Thanks, Grace. It's been awhile.
DeleteI was surprised to see your link so I had to come over to read. I knew it would be worthwhile and I certainly wasn't disappointed. Nice to read you again!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I will be around in the morning to read and comment in return.
DeleteThis poem is both beautiful and tragic. Your opening stanza is something I so wish I'd written "but still like her, you smiled the sky". We can only fool ourselves so long until reality leaves us peeled down to the bone, and left to inhabit sand on a beach in Texas.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susie. Much appreciated. And I suppose there are worse places to be. I'll never forget Padre, good and bad.
DeleteJoy, your poem is haunting, evocative ... a dreamlike experience. "for the sky to come down in your smile and make us whole" ~ sighs forever. Thanks so much for reading mine.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, dear Helen. It was good to read you.
DeleteOh my, this is marvelous. That opening hook grabbed me and says so much even on its own--but, that close! That close left me gawping, though I try not to when I'm actually driving by an ambulance. I admittedly got choked up on this gorgeous, stirring, heartrending poetry.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jennifer. I enjoyed both of your poems but maybe the one for this hook line prompt just a hair more.
Deletepleasure meeting you ... pleasure finding your poetry!
ReplyDeleteOh, so good. Too much great language and imagery to quote it all, but I especially loved “ We drove to Texas for the secret stones / but we only found the hardrock end.” That felt so immediate, and… hard. The ending was perfect, bringing the man in the moon down to earth and animating us, however lifeless.
ReplyDeleteThanks, qb. That's my own favorite line, too. Thanks for reading, and for getting it.
DeleteWow, love the opening lines, and after reading it I felt emotions of innocence lost in the horror of the sharks and canned tulips... so great to read you again.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is both hard hitting and soft all at once. It really moved me and I was drawn to read it several times! Absolutely beautiful writing Joy!
ReplyDelete