A few people said / write something succinct / shorter than your usual / elaborated rhetoric / don’t you know how to / edit and be precise in your / measurement of words / good writers don’t need / verbal diarrhea / they can mold meaning / certain as bending copper / to light.
She thought it over
Knowing it was possible
After all she’d written some very
Shaved and glutted poems
Once.
(It wasn’t her way and if you are not true to your way
then you may as well be another lemming / willing to leap / from cliffs edge
of course this precludes learning which is / a value immeasurable
sometimes you can learn everything and still / go back to drawing unrealistically).
Finding something – – – perhaps it’s not a poem or a form but a short story
In the elongation and manipulation of reality and precision. Imprecise then. Deliberately.
Long ago she had no words because she couldn’t spell well enough to write. So she drew. For hours. Reels of paper. Stories by picture. Things she needed to say. To no one listening.
When she saw Woman In A Red Armchair hanging in a burgundy room / the silence palpable aside / rain hammering outside / mercilessly / like a hundred mouths clamoring
she tried not to stare at the line that made the woman / female
but was drawn to it as she might have been / a real breathing woman
something exquisite and desirable / she longed to see a live flesh and blood girl
to touch her with her empty hands and run them over her / quivering flesh
until those colors swelled up / and she cried out / for the sheer torment and beauty
but
no girls existed / save those who / liked boys / there were plenty of them
why were they all heterosexual?
why wasn’t she?
In America she heard / there are entire schools / devoted or a byproduct perhaps / lesbians / and only-girls-schools / well don’t start on them …
living in the city / you’d think but you’d be wrong / a few pinches / mostly shorn / forlorn
empty eyed / emulating men / less female than / those who wanted to lie beneath them.
Where existed that / judge not / beauty / with /dark eyes
the missing / beat / savor / prosper / sail
to her / soul.
If she could have / found her all along / not searching years but moments / glimpsed
sight and immediately / both knew / this bond before / words spoken
even at 13
even before she were born
perhaps you dreamed of me
created in the stillness of your loneliness / that which you did not have / filling emptiness with yearning / I am born to be / the wet ink on your skin / a permanence / no longer waiting / arms outstretched / for dreams unnecessary / now we / are.
Never quite together / torn asunder / this year the blackcurrents come later / as if they knew / what wonders and nightmares / store / waiting behind the pitch / to come rushing / we tried / we failed / the frailty of emotion / it bleeds easily / like thin skin / gone a-blackberrying / on a listless day / no clouds nor movement / sky dim / with unspent rain / the longing stored up / causing pain.
Perhaps you dreamed of me.
I stood — uncertain — proud backed —
against the light
where shape can be outlined
most acutely
if then you’d looked — ephemeral — something unstated
in muted expression
what we do not say — what we hold inside — contains the greatest
message.
Return to me. Though you are gone. Through the shroud. Time be gentle. Time be cruel.
Different and the same. Recollecting nothing. There is the proof. Stained on our table. Where you cut yourself. On a sharp knife of desire. And I opened to you. Ballet within music. Rapture closed us together. Forgotten. How do you not remember.
That long night we ran barefoot?
Flowers close their drowsy heads. Against night. Sleep. An eternity. Wakening. We are
strangers. Again.
Loss. A pressed red petal against Italian paper. Seeking its watering. I am so thirsty for your return. My love.
TheFeatheredSleep 
Amazing, as always. Hope you and yours are all safe and well. 😊
I love this! Absolutely love it. Your way is your way and it is beautiful. I find when I fight the way the words want to come out, it never turns out well.
True to your way, you draw me into those pictures ;written on labyrinthine walls and lead finally to knowing the flavor of that thirst for a love’s return.
Reblogged this on cabbagesandkings524 and commented:
TheFeatheredSleep – “A pressed petal against Italian paper”
Your writing is exquisite. Your beautiful spirit folded into each verse. I’ve never found your work too long to read. I’ll read you forever ❤
Thank you so much my friend and it is so good to see you here. I hope you and yours are well also. In these strange times.
Thank you so much. I was told recently I write too much and should edit more. But I deliberately write this way (as I am an editor I know how to edit to make it read shorter or more succinct but I don’t want to) and so I suppose this was born from that, and also the desire to express something through differing mediums. Thank you so much both for reading and for your support it means a great deal to me. I appreciate you and hope you are keeping well.
Thank you! I was told recently to write more succinctly but I write as I write deliberately I was using varied forms to show this but really then just be me ultimately! I think when we get afraid of being ourselves we lose ourselves, that is not to say we cannot learn or improve though.
Thank you so much for reblogging dearest Bob. I assume btw the op is off? Because they are rescheduling most? If you posted about it and I missed it I wanted to ask xo
Oh my♥️♥️
Always welcome. So far, it is still on. The area hasn’t been hit hard yet. I’m figuring at least a 50/50 chance it will get cancelled and rescheduled “eventually”. Thanks for checking. ❤
Well, the way you write works for me just fine. You being you is awesome.
We all have our style, and to find one’s voice is key to delivering our meaning. This is a fine piece, and I do like your use of the ‘/’ to demarcate your train of thought.
We’re fine. All is far from normal, but not totally off the rails…yet. Be safe. 😊😊
Whoever “they” were, that’s telling them.
Yes, you are an editor, but you are more, as your gift is “spelling” magical spell-ing. Thinking of you, and always sending healing energy you way. We are well, taking Shinrin-yoku walks, and trying to keep peace in our lives. Always enjoy how your words share your heart. Be well my friend ! ❤️
Write how you like and those who enjoy as I do
Will read and read some more
This is beautiful. The structure, for me, was like a funnel into distilation and clarity. I read it three times. Very unique and powerful.
Wow I can’t believe you would read it three times. That is so very, very kind of you. I tend not to write really long pieces all the time but my latest one I posted today – The Bridge – is the longest poem I have written I believe and you will see why if you read it. I am so grateful to you. Thank you dearly for your time and your support.
M, that’s the loveliest and most supportive thing anyone has ever said. THANK YOU I know you are a lovely person but you also made me so happy just by the kindness of your words. I am so glad we are friends.
P, thank you so much, I am so grateful to you for reading my work. I know sometimes it is quite labored and I appreciate you for taking that time and effort. I hope you are doing okay, in this madness time. Be well also my friend. Do drop me a line if you have a second and let me know how you are? Sending you much love.
Far from normal is the new reality isn’t it? And yet I like that you said not totally off the rails!
Very well said and thank you. I try. I wanted to demarcate (great word) because I was making a point but then it falls into my usual style. Thank you – for the gift of you.
Thank you. That means everything to me. I wrote a piece just recently that’s my last post The Bridge and it is VERY long and I knew many people would say oh goodness that’s not a poem it’s too long but I felt it was necessary for the story and so … ultimately I can only be me. Thank you for appreciating where I’m coming from. It helps me carry on.
My dad had a procedure canceled they are really shutting down over there, and SA just recently locked down today so we’re going into full restrictions. How about where you are? I have been thinking of you
It is so good to see you here! And I am sending you lots of love hoping you are well. Thank you for taking a look at my work. And for letting me smile at you from afar my talented friend. xxxx
Thank you – wow – I wonder what I did to deserve this? I was nervous about writing the piece for Kristi The Bridge. Because it is very long but I felt, necessary and then I thought of Pantheon which is long but so necessary and that helped me write the length I needed to write! See what you do?
I hope you are okay in this madness and I was thinking about you and wanted to check in and find out how you were doing? Sending you a big hug
The only thing you have done is being yourself, which I find beautiful beyond belief. Thank you, Sister ❤
My surgery got cancelled today, to be rescheduled whenever the crisis is over. Statewide in NC, schools are closed at least until May 15th, “non-essential” personal contact businesses are down, and the “stay at home message is loud. So far, COVID cases are showing up, but not surging. One near by county has closed a couple of roads that have switchbacks favored by motorcyclists, saying they can’t spare EMS crews to deal with accidents there (their most frequent type of calls). There are still a few tourists in town, but the hotels are shutting, so they are dwindling. The grocery store is low on some things, but not flat out of anything vital.
It is long, but much, much shorter than The Iliad, The Odessy, The Aeneid , The Divine Comedy, and The Mahābhārata. There’s nothing wrong with long poems. Some stories take a lot of words to tell.
You are too kind – and I understand how this works: I do try to write differently at times, yet almost unerringly fall back into my natural style (what ever that might be!).
Mutual appreciation. Sounds good.
Ha! Yet. 😏
Mutual appreciation is right!
Exquisitely written and oohhh how I felt every line deep inside. Many of the same thoughts I myself have had. You know just how to say things, to create the emotions, and to do so delectably. 💕
Ah my friend I wish I could show you a mirror of how I see you.
You fill my heart with love abundant. Many smiles. Like a desert flower. Rare and beautiful. 💕
Hey love. I posted something about YOU today on WP I hope you see it. I am so so proud of you and I hope you always know that. I will support you eternally with your missions and your goals – you are incredible