Born in a house of wind,
I leaned hard, a little animated stalk.
In a house of rain and mud,
Mother Rot stuffed endings in every word.
The Other Sister, the One Denied,
set the fields on fire
as signal and salvation.
Catching her scent on the gale,
I ran hell-for-Sunday
into the burning wild.
_____
A 55 for my BFF.
This just delights me. As always you manage to be both lavish and economical with your words, so what looks like gilt turns out to be anchored on strong homespun...that first stanza gives history, and the rest makes its own mystery, how we become what we are despite wind, rain, mud and the endless pressures of Mother Rot. So glad to see you play, Shay, and with such a shining 55. No weekend could avoid kicking ass with this to get it going.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of that wild child, embodied so well in your poem. Love the "house of wind" phrase and the running "into the burning wild." Gorgeous.
ReplyDeletethe One Denied,
ReplyDeleteset the fields on fire
as signal and salvation.
Catching her scent on the gale,
I ran hell-for-Sunday
The wild sister can be a real terror in hell and it would be good to get away from them. Great! You caught the typical elements of sibling rivalry here, Shay!
Hank
as Hedge noted, you've been on fire of late. well, usually, but even more so ~
ReplyDeleteSome are born for the wild..
ReplyDelete"...set the fields on fire as signal and salvation...." I love the wild theme of this poem. There's a strong sense of freedom here.
ReplyDeleteThe history of a heart's buffeting in this tiny bag of fire. Pay the ferryman with this coin and the other sister will embrace you on the other side ..
ReplyDeletethis is just fierce Shay! wow - what a brilliantly worded 55 - it is so well crafted, so skilled for the layering, the dazzle of the images (the word ones, although the juxtapositions of the included pictures is stunning and delightfully apropos) - but yeah, this is so "write on fire" .... totally deep and thought-provoking - and asks the harder truths - and ran hell for Sunday - damn mind blowing. Okay, don't ask me to get started - my comment is already longer than 55! But this is totally a stinger, and salvation. You be running with the Tigahs!
ReplyDelete