The Rest
There's been too much burn,
greasy gossip
on minty tongues,
steel-bar troths
of drifting down.
You bent, picked me
up.
No one does that;
not since I sat
bawling
over falling
blocks
(and then
only to shake
me
till I stopped)
Carried eyelid to eye
like this
somehow a person
might finally believe
the rest.
~August 2013
55 wooden alphabet blocks for the g-man
Image: Eyelid to Eye, © joyannjones 2013
Joy Ann, I love this. And especially this part:
ReplyDelete"Carried eyelid to eye
like this
somehow a person
might finally believe
the rest."
I really like how the ending can be read in more than one way. I hope all is well with you.
Pamela
ugh, the shaken baby is kinda scary thought...those first three lines really set this up...too much for sure....
ReplyDeleteWell....
ReplyDeleteI don't get it at all!!!
I hate being so poetically stupid.
But you keep writing them for the smart ones Joy...:-)
I just LOVE your Literary Nature
Thanks for playing, maybe someday I'll come around.
Have a Kick Ass Week-End
(You Rock Anyway)
That's okay--I don't understand golf. ;_) Or fishing. Or motorcycles, or...well--you get it. Thanks for reading till your head explodes, and have an ass-kicking time your own self, G.
DeleteFrom comfortless (poor, sweet girl) to finding comfort... Sometimes it is hard to find comfort, as people become distant, hard to approach and turn away from it. The line "No one does that..." just cut me to the quick.
ReplyDeleteSome wonderful imagery in this. I love "greasy gossip on minty tongues."
ReplyDelete- Alice
Really beautiful poem. Very particular imagery at the opening - idiosyncratic is the word I guess I'd use - very personalized and real. For me, what hit hardest and was horribly painful even to read was the part about playing with the blocks, bawling, and being picked up to be shaken--agh. I can picture that and it makes me heart sick - eyelid to eyelid and "the rest" has a wonderful multiple meanings here. Great photo btw - k.
ReplyDeleteThanks, k--I'm an awful photographer, but sometimes the camera works in spite of me. ;_) I don't mean things to be horrific--these are old old memories now and really are used symbolically here, as a contrast. Thanks for reading, as always.
DeletePoetry is art not autobiography! I didn't mean to imply more - Art needs some distillation and drama! It is a very powerful image and has the a kind of stealth element here -- since it's such a grown-up poem really--so to go back to very details from such early time is itself dramatic.
DeleteThis is very powerful!
ReplyDeletelove this. makes me think of my own life in many ways...i guess we can all relate. Love the way you put together thewords in the first verse. Also, the you bent part...
ReplyDeleteThe title had me thinking this was going in a whole different direction, hedgewitch. I loved this...we all need those people who lift us up when we fall...and support us through those times that leave us broken. This was beautiful.
ReplyDelete.. 'greasy gossip on minty tongues' ~ one way to banish the bitter aftertaste.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's high time. That's the first thing that comes to mind in response to the lines:
ReplyDeleteYou bent, picked me up.
No one does that;
not since I sat bawling
over falling...
:o)
blocks
There are so many layers here, Hedge. When I have the time, I want to return to read it again and really ponder your message. My first impression leaves me with the small failures of childhood, and how they translate to big failures in adulthood - and we still impotent to set things straight.
ReplyDeleteWhat strikes me here is the part about being bent to, only to be shaken. No wonder a kind respite seems so remarkable. At least, that's how I'm reading it, that the "rest" has a double meaning here.
ReplyDeleteGreat capture. Love this.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think how we all need our childhood boo-boos healed even if it happens as adults.
ReplyDelete