Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.
I MAKE MYSELF NUMB WHEN I NEED TO PUNCH HARDER
You took me to the dreamland as
‘little boy’ skipped like a stone
a thousand of them, a shower of stars
dam busters;
I had a headache as if my skull
had fallen off the bus, grazed her knees
on the concrete with daisies
bamboozling through the cracks of the pavement –
I leapt over them
because I read too much A. A. Milne in my childhood.
Now we are eighteen
my smallest toe slips into a crack in the pavement,
and here he comes
somewhere between bear and wolf, standing
as tall as a fire-extinguisher
shot into the sky - a vagrant firework display,
he snatches me, I am flailing
with balloon tears rolling through my beard.
It was yesterday that I may of well been Winston
but you took me up to the old church hill
and through derelict stained glass windows
I witnessed the rapture of cloud ballet
the tangle of a sunset like an octopus double-knotting itself
until it falls, eternally in orbit, around once more
and once more again;
I'd wear sunglasses so thick that
they were slices of brick painted with tar
and you were busy white-washing
all the flavorless rape out of my mouth
so I could taste white nectarine's wet blossom across my pallet.
And now I can stand at their office window
with a mallet,
unaffected
and ready.
Comments
William Saint George
Wed, 2012-01-25 04:03
This reads like a mature poem
This reads like a mature poem. I don't have time yet to explore all the metaphors, but the poem is rich in them. And seeing it was a true story (and a lovely one too), I like this poem more.
But I must say again that I got lost in the forest of metaphors you presented here.
No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot
http://www.wsgeorge.com/
weirdelf
Wed, 2012-01-25 06:55
Fuck you're good!
I'm not going to crit this now, I'm going to read your other 2 poems first. Shoot me if you must, I believe in looking at a poets works.
cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry
tired_goat
Wed, 2012-01-25 19:10
Wierdelf, you're why I'm here silly!
http://archive.neopoet.com/goatman <-- me
http://poeji.tumblr.com
weirdelf
Fri, 2012-01-27 18:10
goatman! of course,
I said I thought your work sounded familiar. Back from Japan then?
cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry
emogothgirl
Wed, 2012-01-25 13:37
well well
it seems we have a natural on our hands. very well done. love the subject and the story behind it.
always,
mag
Esker
Wed, 2012-01-25 13:51
I remember writing...
of course nothing like this wonderful colourful
and composed work
liked the threading of imagery much
Now I see what others see in mine
although my writing is sparcer
a long time ago I went against the authorities
whom interested me so much
I was an observer freind at one time
but was taught to singularly go and
trouble them
that was something
articulation is something
of importance on ones feet
and then in a crowd where
there really will not be
a voice..even more something
but it is important that with
the proper talent and work
with words people will listen
people will read and cohesively
link up there is a power in
the human voice the natural
ability to lead through the
beauty and need of voice and
work
William Saint George
Thu, 2012-01-26 07:17
"...through derelict stained
"...through derelict stained glass windows
I witnessed the rapture of cloud ballet..."
"...and you were busy white-washing
all the flavorless rape out of my mouth
so I could taste white nectarine's wet blossom across my pallet..."
Are these sexual references in the poem? As I read it over, it looks more like the poem is about sexual fulfillment.
No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good job. - TS Eliot
http://www.wsgeorge.com/