jeudi 21 juillet 2011

red drum


for Laura Ann Brooks

red drum
pom pom
red redder reddest
bloodshot red
through and through
like pomegranite juice
dripping from your
ripe red lips
red like passion fruit
and blood oranges
red with a 1000 warriors 
on horseback
entering the valley
speckled with houses
red red red red red red red
red like a fresh wound
trimmed with plastic wire
red like steak or carrion
red red like the pain that's
dancing on my head
red red red
red with grief and anger
carving myself to reveal
bone gristle
red as the tail of
the sparrowhawk in winter
gliding into the ribs
of a white rabbit
hawk eye red
red like urgence
red like corpuscles
red red red red drum
pom pom
my sacred heart
overflowing with
love and disgust
my sad long life
finished in red earth


Footnote:
This poem developed out of a writing exercise at the weekly Astoria Poetry Workshop with Laura Ann Brooks:  "I am a color." Red flashed immediately into my brain and took hold of me; the initial draft was done on autopilot, as most of them are for me. The exercises really help me break through to new ideas and metaphors. I am eternally grateful to Laura for every Wednesday night, especially now that I am well enough to leave the house once in a while: it's been a year since I last attended. And no matter how sick I am or how much pain I am in, I am able to lose mysef and forget about it somewhere in the first hour. xoxoxoxoxo 


1 commentaire:

Mary Stebbins Taitt a dit…

WOW! Striking and powerful! A song for sure, so rhythmic!!!