The dusk was precipitating on the wrong side
of your head. A furnace of tongues flare out
from your left ear and you gape at my expression. But, sir,
I told you not to come yet. You grin and scratch your sickle,
flicking miniature kings and paupers down into the Hudson below;
the sky is bleeding tongues now, like someone melted Mars
down a canvas. Perhaps it was you? Fix your hair, you say,
they’re waiting. Your grin waves, turns, hops down
onto the river greenway below us, where the kings and paupers
are stripping off black brine. You shake their hands,
brush algae from their jackets, and lead them up tongues of dusk,
back into the right side of your head. Yes, now you see─come along,
my dear. I peer around your sickle at the waves below;
the Hudson has never looked more sacred in your dying light.
But sir, it is not yet night. Your grin smacks shut
and blackness billows out, spreading its wings
over the Hudson. Ah, but it is night now, my dear. Hush.
Updated on May 3, 2018.
ReplyDeleteAs i have found is always the case with your poetry, I am awed and amazed at your eloquence, imagery, and depth.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite lines were:
"The dusk was precipitating on the wrong side
of your head."
"the sky is bleeding tongues now, like someone melted Mars
down a canvas. Perhaps it was you?"
"Your grin waves, turns, hops down
onto the river greenway below us,"
"Ah, but it is night now, my dear. Hush."
I honestly got chills.
The only fault i can find with this piece, all be it big or small depending on how you view it, is that i cant quite tell what is happening in the narrative here. as much as the scene is painted beautifully, ti feels rather abstract to me, and im having trouble making it out. The sickle and final line imply to me this is someone reaching their death. The being told to fix their hair implies they are you. The hudson's presence has me assuming they die of drowning. But much of the exchange between the two characters confuse me and even that which i am sure of i feel insecure in my beliefs. I think maybe just add some clarity about who each character is. In that way it could explain their relationship, why the one has a sickle and is dusting of kings and paupers, the dynamic between the two, etc. just so the image i more clear.
Over all, a truly magnificent piece.