everyone dies, but no one is dead.
- a tibetan saying
she sees
the language around me,
and even though she has a
place for me beside her,
she is looking away ...
her hand is close, ready
to be touched, while her
other hand slightly covers
her mouth, whispering
an exotic umbrage
into cohesion ...
her feet, al
l
most
ready
touching
the floor.
( ... at times the living are not ready to release the dreaming dead.)
Author notes
inspired by Gauguin's painting, "Spirit of the Dead Watching".
http://www.abcgallery.com/G/gauguin/gauguin43.html
title taken from Sharon Old's second book of poems, "The Dead and the Living".
Please tell me what you think
Comments
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the last line was phenomenal
the imagery is fantastic
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Wow. I can't say I really understood it, but I loved it anyways. It has such gorgeous imagery and there's something about it that draws the reader in. Great write!
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I can't say I understand it completely but I did go to the pic to see it and tried to get a clue. It isn't you, it's me .. duh.
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thank you for your honest comment.
the write is loosely tied to the inspiration of the work ... I use many different strands in each write but Gauguin's work was the initial inspiration.
what I saw in the painting was the woman's fear and sexual vulnerability exposed in the presence of a spirit, a ghost from a previous relationship watching her and due to that presence, she cannot fully experience love ... hence the empty bed.
...just my interpretation.
once again, thanks for the comment.
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Interesting and descriptive narrative on your prompt.
I like the subtleties presented.
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love the subtleness.
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"whispering an exotic umbrage" - an exotic feeling of anger into sticking together? Is this what was meant by the words? A subtle poem that certainly has connotations of the Gauguin picture.
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thank you for your comment.
"exotic umbrage" is a reference to a past ghost she has a love/hate relationship with. I used the word exotic to denote foreign in reference to Gauguin's exotic, foreign location of Tahiti.
she is whispering the umbrage, the resentment, like a chant to keep the ghost of the past alive, even though this chant is painful to her and shading her from the radiance of the moment. she's living in the past.
once again, thank you for your generous comment.
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I did enjoy this....usually I can't follow poems written in this format but yours was quite easy to follow. It made my mind wonder and try searching for reason behind death. I really enjoyed this and I am glad you chose to feture it. Thank you for sharing this with us at AP. Great write over all,
stephanie
. Rewarded 6
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Nice job. It leave the reader with much to think about. The Tibetan saying is a nice touch.
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well done
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Too true.
I think it took me 3 years to let go of one of my ghosts. Tragic, on some level, really. Why hold on for so long when not even the ghost wants a part of it anymore?
But it is very true.. love the way you crafted this.
oh and..
you made me think of yoga
and finding the four corners of my feet
still haven't quite managed that and it is one of the simpler things to do
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