Visitation
Sleeping deep
deep in your brown eyes
rocking in the dance
don’t be afraid
I said
cupping your face above me
you smiled and looked down
full and flawless
and
between us
I saw there was
no fear
at last as you rolled
with
that antic motion
turned immaculate
in and through me
no fear
though you’ve been dead
bien-aimée, âme perdue
these nineteen years
and so have I
until
just now.
October 2011
Posted for Poetics at dVerse Poets Pub
where the prompt today from Kelli Elmore is Fearless; to write past the taboo and into the forbidden. I have my own theme of the frightening and surreal going on this month for Halloween, so have tried to fit into both here.
Image: Visitation, by joy ann jones
mmm...loving on some dead people...gotta admit i am not sure i thought necrophilia would be mentioned...haha...i think though you did not quite go there or maybe you did...hmm...nice inclusion of the second language as well...nice translation
ReplyDeleteThanks brian--I didn't stick the trans in this time--google is just a tab away if needed. These dreams--sometimes I wonder about me.
ReplyDeleteoh hedge - this gave me shivers...sounded first like a "normal" love scene...and then...ugh....well played...love the inclusion of the french words
ReplyDeletedreams are a precarious wonder. Nice topic for the prompt. Thanks , joy :)
ReplyDeleteI translated this slightly different as if the narrator had passed and was finally reunited with the earth or place she loved. Dead when full of breath and brought to life with that reunification.
ReplyDeleteAs you commented today to my "Spectre", "the apparition... while unspeakable, can’t do his worst without being invited in, as in all the old legends..." Yet the converse is also true: sometimes one has to "eat their shadow" (Robert Bly), and, in so doing, the past can take on a different face. This is a gift, a charm, for the mirror. I write letters to my dead brother, and he gifts me with a better past ... Brendan
ReplyDeleteOh, this brought tears to my eyes. (I have my own ghost ... and it's been 29 years.)
ReplyDeleteNecrophilia-ghost interference-incubus philanderer in love
ReplyDeletewhen I saw the prompt I knew this was going to be a good week!
This is flocking awesome-love it!
So creative and daring... I love it... reminds me of Bernie.
ReplyDeleteOnly for you will I admit to loving the scene in Quills when the Abbe du Coulmier is at the side of his beloved Madeleine Le Clerc (now dead) finds that she is not and is finally able to consummate his forbidden love. At his climax he releases her realizing she is dead (he is of course dreaming). A magnificent take on the prompt and look at human longing.
ReplyDeleteThanks all.
ReplyDelete@laurie: Madov?
@twm; yeah, some of that, for sure.
@B: I've had some horrific dreams on this subject in the past--rotting corpses and the like. So perhaps the shadow has finally been digested in this one.
@Anna: Another movie goes on my list. I relate well to tales of the insane, short of the homicidal. Thanks for reading.
I think I understand...powerful poem. I didn't get necrophilia from it. How I interpretted it was meeting a long deceased lover in one's dreams; but perhaps I am wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think you are putting old ghosts to bed here, Joy. They really can't come back to haunt you when you exorcise them so well.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely. And a taboo, yes, but also universal.
ReplyDeleteI will admit I have fantasized about making love to past lover.. he was alive though..i think.. this was written so softly and finely it actually could be acceptable.
ReplyDeleteyou have a wonderful pen..I always enjoy your poetry.
Quite beautiful, really. To me it takes love to a mystical level.
ReplyDeleteReally cool write. I've actually believed I've seen my grandfather before, but never was sure if it was sleep or a dream- but boy oh boy did it feel real-it happened a few weeks after he had passed, about 20 years ago and we were best friends so I was torn up, crying on end for days. My mother was actually getting worried as I was a mess. Barely a teen at the time, It was my first experience of loss, and then came the visit. And it was funny all was well almost immediately after. Sure I missed him, but it was ok, just seeing him there filled me with an acceptance, and it felt great. That was the only experience I had of the sort but thought I'd share. Great write. Thanks
ReplyDelete@Fred: Thank you for sharing--yes I know exactly the feeling you mean--this was definitely a dream, but a most unusual and vivid one, and though my days of distress over this person are long gone, it did leave behind a sense of acceptance I've not had.
ReplyDeletei like it, it's hard to share how you feel about the dead, so...thanks.
ReplyDelete"and so have I until just now." That says so much. I can feel the chilled blood warm when I read it.
ReplyDeletethis was sensual, scary and brilliant all in one....bravo my friend. sleeping with the dead.
ReplyDeleteThat picture gave me the goosebumps, the write made me sad. At least you have the dreams...My late grandmother like to invade mine...it's always disturbing, upsetting, reopens the wounds of what was a difficult relationship. Touched by this one, lady...
ReplyDeletewell. I like it.
ReplyDelete(hope it's not from a real experience!)
tho...I've had a quasi-similar experience once...back in the '50s.
lovely sentiment here..the lines:
though you’ve been dead
bien-aimée, âme perdue
these nineteen years
and so have I
until
just now.
I didn't know where this poem was going to go (considering 'breaking the taboo' theme) unless it's society's a.taboo on romancing death b.talking openly about it c.breaking the taboo of fear....
then, as your reader, I realized...this is a love poem.
it's beautiful, well done, and very well said.
thank you.
Deftly worked.
ReplyDeleteCreepy gorgeous (and that's my favorite kind)!
ReplyDeleteVisually squealing...eeeeeeeeeeee...I liked it Hedge!
ReplyDeleteRather morbid Joy! I had experienced doses of flash backs going back to the days of childhood only to wake up and realized those were decades ago. Most episodes were those of friends and family. Wonder what these signify!
ReplyDeleteHank
Entirely flawless. I so like:
ReplyDeletethat antic motion
turned immaculate
Perfect Ms. Witch :)
Maybe I read this wrong, but it didn't creep me out. It seemed to be sweet in a way of discovering love and newness in something old. Darn, I need to go re-read to see what I missed. Comments always get me re-thinking, lol...
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued that the speaker-poet is the one who says 'don't be afraid' !!
ReplyDeleteLike Lori...I liked it and it felt dreamy and sweet to me.
ReplyDeleteDreams can reawaken the dead and our feelings for them come to the forefront ...thought this was a great write ...thank you
ReplyDeleteThanks all, for reading and engaging. I've enjoyed this prompt and how everyone responded to it.
ReplyDelete@tink: Thanks for reading, and putting so much into your analysis, and yes, this is a love poem.I'm glad that was the final message you took away.
@lori, and ayala: thanks for getting the subtext right.
@Ruth: As always, you have the inner eye working. That's the part of this that deals with a taboo, which I've left still unsaid, because I am not as fearless as I should be.
@tug: My favorite line also--thanks for finding it and enjoying it.
Interesting my first reaction was a poem about love and grief hidden behind a Halloween image/story
ReplyDeleteLove the last line! Very nice write.
ReplyDeleteWell done. Taboo and Halloween all at once scary!
ReplyDeletehttp://seeworldhere.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/our-world-today-they-know/
Dreams and desires, woven in a patten too intricate to discern. I loved the haunting aspect of this, the atmosphere of charged mystery and embrace of the unnatural because it feels oh so natural to give in.
ReplyDeleteGene
I'm so glad I read past the first few comments, to get that it was a dream...duh, your title Visitation (now that I write this and am thinking while synapse fire!)
ReplyDeleteThere was something so powerful in the take away...it makes sense now that I've read your commentary on a past love and the emergence from a dream. Sounds odd, but you are so lucky to have had such an awakening. Wonderful write in the spirit of the month, celebrating the dead ~
Spookily good!
ReplyDeleteChilling, powerful stuff - the dead often live on our dreams (where anything is possible).
ReplyDeleteGreat write.
Anna :o]
you snatched my breathe away.
ReplyDelete