Her eyes became the future

Cherry

By lavadis

Mon, 28 Mar 2016
  • 1681 reads
4 comments
 
 
She was 6ft 7 and did not know what to do with it 
when we lay in the bathtub together  in her apartment 
on afternoons when the bar work was slow 
her ankles projected 
beyond my ears and 
into the middle distance 
with longitudinal exuberance
 
This was the 1980's  
a time before emotions 
had been invented 
back then, 
our relationship was 
no more
than a cinnamon dusted chrysalis
 
We would sit on the steps 
of her brownstone 
and watch the 
pavement rabbits as they 
scattered for cover in the snow
leaving footprints 
like mosaic semaphore for us to decipher
she used a silver pipette 
to drop question marks
into my mouth  
which bristled and faded
like fireflies trapped in a spring downpour 
just beyond the periphery 
of my vision 
 
On the nights 
when the firestorms were
at their most intense 
smelting the girders 
into milky glass 
we smoked Ethiopian Highland
which she grew from
Royal Queen seeds
and her eyes became the future 
 
'One day I will smash our love
until it is so many wicked shards'
she told me
'you will grasp them
to your chest 
and try to make them whole
but the pieces will slice you 
leaving ruinous scars
which will never heal'
 
She had become my atlas 
she drilled a mineshaft 
into the side of my skull
and illuminated it with
Celine, Bonnard and Mingus
I knew she would destroy me 
but in love and war
there are always
casualties 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Certificate PG
Poem
Poetry
Fantasy

Comments

Submitted by hilary west on

This is very attractive writing, getting more gritty towards the end :'she drilled a mineshaft into the side of my skull'. I like a lot of the poetic phrases.

HW   cool

 

Submitted by VeraClark on

All that suffering's worth it, you can feel the chemistry. Some razor lines, a touch of wit, a rabbit and a threat.

 

Submitted by EB on

Clever and sharp. 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

a nice sense of fatality in that last stanza, and a killer first line. I enjoyed this lavadis - thank you