Lost beneath summer clear skies
lurks calm that would be the storm
Sandy shore beneath my bones
declines to keep me warm
Cold and calloused stones they are,
recollect her eyes - and shiver
Beguiling shards that pierced my heart
sleep in deep Alaskan river
Howling flesh at the callow moon
while dying love lies bleeding
Cast my fate to circumstance
with heart in hand still beating
Copyright © Brian Nettles/Henri Ferguson 2003
Author notes
This is the first collaboration I’ve done here at AP. This is new territory for me and perhaps a challenge to get into another’s head space to understand where they are going with their words while at the same time trying to put my own spin on it all. Thank you to Brian Nettles for staying on my case and prodding me to do it. He is a brilliant writer and I look forward to more collaborating projects with him.
Written October 26th, 2003
In a list
What did you think
Comments
1 - 12 of 12
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Mysterious and Beautiful...Love, Alaska, and Women. Nice combination, lovely writing ~ and all the adjectives mentioned above. Well done, boyz. Well done.
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Henri and Brian.. you did a superb job with this, a carefully crafted piece with some stunning imagery too.. loved the bare coldness and shivering beauty that lies within it.. chilly but warming too.. well penned!!!
~GILL~xxx -
an excellent collaboration. Sometimes its hard to get two people thinking along the same lines to make a collaboration work.. in this case, you two did an awesome job!!! great writing!!!
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Your thoughts and words blended well! Although sad, this was a pleasure to read. I recommend...Do it again!
Maureen
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Henri you and Brian made a good team, never saw such a brief collaboration, I love that. To me less is more sometimes. This says volumes.
Red -
"Beguiling shards that pierced my heart
sleep in deep Alaskan river"
i like this line...be it yours or brian's. the whole poem is good too. i liked it. thanks. -
Excellent write and a seamless blending of two unique poetic styles... the imagery and emotions are rich and powerful and the rhythm is consistent. Enjoyed this and encourage you both to consider collaborating on future projects. Thank you - Helen
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Well-written collaboration here, Poets! Great paradoxal entrance line, immediately pulling the title in with its repetitive force.
Wonderful internal and end rhyme ... good imagery.
And what a clever word "circumstance" is ... Evocative and layered in meaning.
Looking forward to your future projects.
Hugs to the both of you.
Myra
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Very emotive, the voice, flow, tense, so well done, that it appears to have been written by one. Great collaboration.
Maddie -
Congrats to both on your first collaboration...a powerful write that conveys so much emotion...the rhyme and meter are exceptional and the content extremely sad...it seems to convey a feeling of incredible pain , but the title seems to suggest that no matter what , life must go on...
Enjoyed immensely...
~ sonia ~ -
OH my... you have joined minds with this one for sure.
Wonderful feel to this... I always wonder if the colabs were line for line..or stanza for stanza...
In this case...it all pens together with perfection.
Exquisite... loved it.
Hugs..
Mary ann -
It was certainly my pleasure - and I do look forward to working with you again!! I'm very happy with how this turned out, it is very much one voice, one thought - which usually makes for a solid collaboration. - Brian
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