Rainbow Wrapper
I'm just the torn wrapping
from a pre-packaged rainbow,
a rider in the sky's pocket,
mischance given breath.
I'm the flare of a spark
struck between strangers
burning alone
in the slums of the storm--
a pinwheel, a Catherine wheel,
a somersault of fires
not safe to play with,
not warm and not yours.
~April 2016
posted for real toads
Challenge: Words Count
Image: Lichtkreise
(Kosmischer Regenbogen) (Cosmic Rainbow), 1922, Otto Freundlich
Public domain via wikiart.org
Now, that's gorgeous writing. "Mischance given breath." Yes.
ReplyDeleteI really like the progression here.. it tip-toes carefully from the humble wrapper of a pre-packaged rainbow (just gorgeous) to the confidence of the the last stanza.. So many perfect phrases here.
ReplyDeleteA breath of fresh air and a delight to read. Have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteAh, no wonder you are someone I feel privileged to know!
ReplyDeleteWow! This is brilliant writing....I love the idea of being a rider in sky's pocket!
ReplyDeleteWhoa! That last stanza is intense, and perfectly written. RAWR.
ReplyDeleteI tend to think of you as more a rainbow rapper. Wonderful combinations here--I especially like the Catherine Wheel and all those burning whirls--wonderful. k.
ReplyDeleteps- and slums of storm and all the rest of it. k.
ReplyDeletepps and great painting.
ReplyDeleteI love everything this poem is and offers--its colors, its tone, the bright sternness of its message. The last stanza is my favorite. There is a kind of surety to, a voice chanting "This is how things are and there is nothing anyone can do to change me." And I love that. ♥
ReplyDeleteAn interesting progression from 'just the torn wrapping' to the power and independence of the final stanza. Long may your fireworks spark!
ReplyDeleteI read this as the sort of candescent nothing that poetry is, as Stevens might fabulate--"mischance given breath" and "a somersault of fires." Ever fooling the magician, we who think we own our songs, and always with the impersonal, ghastly admonition of the great dead we only resonate—"not safe to play with / not warm and not yours." Ahem and amen.
ReplyDeletesome lights are too bright, and some only cast shadow. yours, however: they clarify, and edify, and cauterize as they show the wound ~
ReplyDeleteCan't think of anything you could say I would like better to hear, M. Sincere thanks.
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