Things endure
then they explode
then they explode
here where our hands
are so busy working
in the round room.
are so busy working
in the round room.
In the basement
the child waits,
worn out beneath the bare lightbulb
that barely breaks the black
the child waits,
worn out beneath the bare lightbulb
that barely breaks the black
alone where no one
has heard,
as her wells of eyes look
for light past the screen
has heard,
as her wells of eyes look
for light past the screen
into the big dark.
June 2011
This is compressed down to a rather thick opacity -- the explanatory note helps, somewhat. The sense I get in the first stanza is a maker's womb --the poet writing a poem, or poems, a process which goes on though sometimes a thought or memory "explodes," whether because its been exposed to the maker's light or it simply goes off like a time bomb. Dunno. The change in stanza two is stark and dark -- a scene which is cold and eerie with the vibe of abuse. But then the last stanza and that final line, which suggests that out of the deprivation, riches, both from the "wells" of the child's eyes (suggesting she brought much within to what is without) as well as that infinite tablet upon which to write -- filling nothing with something. It is an imaginative child's capacity to bring worlds into view where none exist, isn't it? And does that ever change? I think of the darkened huts in which old Irish poets learned the oral culture, listening in darkness to the florid visions of the Tales. The first stanza is a little too opaque for this noodle. - Brendan
ReplyDeletethe last couplestanzas do take a very dark turn...i feel for this child alone, unheard in the dark....the opening stanza throws me a bit...unless put into the contaxt of our inner child...
ReplyDeleteThis absolutely breaks my heart.
ReplyDelete@FB Because you have one of the best.
ReplyDelete@Brian and Brendan: The round room is where we do the work of life, all the processing: our skulls. Perhaps this will help make it make more sense. AFA the rest of your observations, Brendan, yes, exactly.
Solid versifying, entertaining.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does have a dark and somber feel. The explanation of the first verse does help.
ReplyDeleteEnduring...that stanza packed a wallop...as I've "endured" nearly 50 years and am only now breaking free. Thank you for this impressive write.
ReplyDeletetesting, testing. Blogger just rejected me.
ReplyDeleteThis is JANNIE.
Let me try again...
I don't know why The Child is in the dark and what's on the screen, but I hope she will be okay.
The round room is intriguing. Rapunzel's fate? The world? Cycles?
Always great to be here and read the storms and petals of your words.
xoxo
Yay, I'm in! :)
ReplyDeletexoxo
Oh this is so sad. But wonderfully written.
ReplyDeleteThe more I thought about this, the more Freudian / Jungian things got. I think that I'll just say that "bare lightbulb that barely breaks the black"
ReplyDeleteis an absolutely awesome turn of phrase.
Simply beautiful imagery, HW. I'm with M Zen on this, second stanza is absolutely fabulous ~
ReplyDeleteVery dark, it makes me think of child labor in some dark room somewhere. So well written, Hedge. You are amazing.
ReplyDeleteAwww! Awww! This is sooooo sad and "the big dark" just takes my heart and shatters it. The dark can be either an enemy or a safety blanket...but for this child it feels like it's not quite either.
ReplyDeleteIntriguing
ReplyDeleteJeez Hedge...
ReplyDeleteThis gave me shivers...
And few things do that!
You are such a Class Act, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for helping to lend creedence to the Friday Funfest. You Rock The Casbah!!!
Thanks for playing, and have a Kick Ass Week-End
sad.
ReplyDeleteWe visited an old mine last weekend and heard stories of the children that used to be employed there. It sort of reminds me of that. They weren't allowed candles - just sat for hours by a wooden gate that they had to open to let the miners through with loads of coal.
ReplyDeleteMy 55 are here.
I get it. I like it. Yet at one point in time do we allow that child out to the light of day and say "you are of the past, I love you now, so let us grow up and come to be me today?"
ReplyDeleteI never liked viewing the light into darkness, hell with that, I will turn the brightest light on the dark and watch the cockroaches and rats run for their hole. Now that is true payback for the child and great fun for the adult the child has become.
Was just at an event for a local D.A. candidate, a woman, with tons of experience working on human trafficking cases. So many children are trafficked in the U.S. but because there are very few women district attorneys, it doesn't get the kind of attention it deserves. Children are such vulnerable beings and too many take advantage of them.
ReplyDeleteThe things we ignore...bury...while we live our lives. Thing we are so sure have been endured and are now over even though we've never dealt with them...they do explode eventually. Especially the things that happened to us as children. That's the feeling I got from this.
ReplyDelete@Galen: What a super nice comment. Thanks--you made my day,man.
ReplyDelete@Belinda It's too easy to look away from stuff like that. Kudos to your D.A. candidate.
@autumnraven: exactly. you sum it up well. thanks for coming by, reading and understanding.
@twm you got to shine a light man, even if you light your shirt on fire. ;_) not to worry for the child--she has the key to the highway.
You tapped the archtype here, which really gives this depth. When I read your work I feel like I've stepped into another world.
ReplyDeleteMurky depths being plumbed in your 55.
ReplyDeleteGoodness, this is so impactful. It brought back memories of 21 years of work with sexually abused children. Heavy.
ReplyDeleteMy Friday Flash 55 is at:
http://rnsane.blogspot.com/2011/06/friday-flash-55-he-love-me-he-loves-me.html