Due to a brain error on my part, the 55 is late to post! Apologies to all and here is my effort..
More Thanks To The God Of Spaces
For gentian space between charcoal
and coral that keeps sunrise
from snapping the heart;
for void between cars
sluiced into exempt
from today's deathrace-lottery;
for this finishing space
where body rots
but spirit flies up,
veils of flesh rippling
with no touch left
save mother-child's, intemerate:
this shoreless space between breaths
before darkness expands.
~November 30, 2017
The Friday 55 is closed til next week. Thanks to all who played.
Note: definition: intemerate
Image: Sunrise Sunset, ©joyannjones 2014, manipulated.
The progression leaves me breathless, especially after the third stanza (which gives a bit of rest, just to snatch it back with a hand that is gentle, fleshless, unrelenting...). The last stanza takes the breathless metaphor to realistic anxiety, covering the lungs with the sort of desperation that chokes when one is sure staying afloat is a bit of a dream, a dream that laughs at us because the shore seems so close.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I'm glad the tardiness was just an error. I was worried.
I picked the wrong date on the auto-publish, then kept wondering why nothing was happening with the 55. Sigh...but nothing to worry about--my btain has always been like this. ;)
DeleteHere is my bit of "Shivers and Wants", for this week:
ReplyDeletehttp://magalyguerrero.com/shivers-and-wants/
Does the list lengthen, or need to find what now, today, is enough? A small space where more would be, um, intemperate, which is how I read that word the first way. Exquisitely drawn, Hedge, and suffices for me for prayer, or poetry. Does the detail become more fine for having a week to 55? Whatever case, it kicks ass.
ReplyDeleteMy 55: https://blueoran.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/voices/
- Brendan
I think for every new entry on the list, one is chewed off by some teething hellpuppy. Yes, intemerate is a weird word--I can't say I even knew of its existence before this, but I liked the precision of meaning and the soft sibilant sound...afa a week helping with the 55--its all I can do to cobble one together on Thursday. ;_) Thanks for reading, and for writing for us B.
DeleteExcellent work Hedge.
ReplyDeleteMy 55
https://awakenedwords.wordpress.com/2017/12/01/two-sides-a-friday-flash-55/
Love your race into darkness... I might write dark, but I love how you charcoal the word... I'm sooty with awe. Here is my 55.
ReplyDeleteYes, this deathrace-lottery is losing its appeal! My own offering is in similar vein.
ReplyDeletehttp://calibanandmiranda.blogspot.co.za/2017/12/omnia-temporaria-est.html
So glad you were able to find a few words--it seems to help with the coping. A very effective and memorable 55--thanks, Kerry, and I hope things improve for you.
DeleteThank heaven for that space, otherwise none of us would be able to slip through the cracks, and we do slip.
ReplyDeletehttp://herotomost.blogspot.com/2017/12/loving-what-you-do.html
Good to see you here--and I always love seeing a prose 55--wish I could do it, but I am crap at prose. Thanks, Corey.
DeleteWithout such spaces, I think we would all certainly go mad.
ReplyDeleteI hope to participate a bit later, dearie, but have a KICK-ASS WEEKEND, ok?
Oh we need those spaces, those times in brilliant color before we succumb to darkness.
ReplyDeleteHere's my offering. https://blackinkhowl.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-violent-bleak.html
This was so spot on Susie. Thanks for bringing it to the 55.
Deletewe growl to fill those spaces, then grumble when as they fill and empty. ever our lot, no?
ReplyDeletea pair of nothings this week:
wax
some
Hardly that--both of them full of what I needed to read.
DeleteI'm in!
ReplyDeletehttp://fireblossom-wordgarden.blogspot.com/2017/12/friday-in-hell.html
Yay! As always you kick the gong around better than anyone, with 55 good hard applications of the satirical boot. Thanks for cracking me up!
Deletehey, ho! Hozier inspired
ReplyDeletehttp://inordinarylanguage.blogspot.com/2017/12/make-this-easy-for-me.html
sorry i am not in this week hedge but i am glad it was just a brain glitch. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteThe blackness between breath's. ..its not a soft place of being. Hope life rolls a little easier for you.
Have a kick ass weekend.
Thanks, man. And no, not a cozy place at all--glad you stopped by and have a kickass weekend your own self.
Delete