This week's Poetry Bus is leaving from Rachel Fox's blog, www.crowd-pleasers.blogspot.com, on the first stop of it's blogwide tour. I'm going to be driving it sometime in April (must check the date!), but in the meantime here's my (very late) offering for this week's.
I've been away until today, so I'm posting one of the first poems I wrote when I started writing poetry in 2007, (mainly cause it's the only one I could find with any 'word' connection.)
The pool
This is a time of fasting;
of denying myself
my daily fix
of bread and wine
and concrete lines.
The lean days set me free
quite unexpectedly
to stumble across
a midnight pool
that draws my thirsty eyes.
Here on its bank,
I plunge my arm in,
again and again and again
and grasp great armfuls of words
that clamour deep in me
They ask me in silvery voices
to cut them - gut them,
set them free.
So I kiss them
and say
ssshhhhhh - go gently.
Totalfeckineejit
Good pick then!
ReplyDeleteI love the progression from "days of fasting" and "The lean days" to the finding of the pool.
And the great line "to cut them - gut them,"
In fact, the last stanza is astonishing.
Reminded me of Argent's quicksilver poem as well - the imagery and associations.
Liked the sounds of this as well.
Ah, the song of the poet! Too often I plunge my arm in the pool but come up with empty crisp packets and used condoms...
ReplyDeleteThis is magical PF, really atmospheric, and surreal, yet touching.
ReplyDeleteLovely
Thanks Titus - just back from a trip to Argent and you're spot on - weirdly similar themes going on.
ReplyDeletePeter, thanks for your comment. Just visited the Strokestown website and spotted you're name there - Congratulations!!
Niamh, thanks a million. What a lovely comment!
This poem has a real breath of fresh air feel to it!
ReplyDeleteI love blogging synchronicity - I've just been feeding the fish in NanU's virtual fishpond.
Just read your comment on my pome and indeed we seem to have had a similar idea. I like the ending on yours, though. Very neat!
ReplyDeleteHi Dominic, there's a lot of fishy stuff going on, isn't there? I'm them all over the place right now.
ReplyDeleteHi Argent, tis weird how the brain works, isn't it? I wonder is it that both fish and words are slippery little feckers that are hard to pin down?
I liked this a great deal. I think, "They ask me in silvery voices" was my favourite line, but it was all so good.
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this?
ReplyDelete'My daily fix of bread and wine and concrete lines' intrigues me, beyond the delicate rhymes. Love the ...'cut them gut them set them free bit'
I often think of words and poems as just floating about in the air to be plucked, so interesting then to see them being fished from the water. Very intersting poem ,I'd love to know your story of it/in it.
Poetikat, glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteHi Tfe, thanks for the interest.
The story behind those lines is that I had to give up a load of stuff after a big operation (on my gut - might explain my interpretation of Swiss's picture prompt this week) I was taking a bit of a break from writing
fiction at the time too, and all of a sudden my head was crystal clear and these poems started popping into it out of nowhere.
Of course, now that I'm back in the full of my health I couldn't imagine giving up all that stuff again. Especially not wine. . . or beer . . or coffee . . or chocolate . . or bread . . . ..
Janey Mac! Glkad you are better now andthanks for the story. :)
ReplyDeleteYou driving the big red yokeo next weeko BTW !