The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poem Thread, 8/2/07

[BlueIris]

"The Shark"

My sweet, let me tell you about the Shark.
Though his eyes are bright, his thought is dark.
He's quiet—that speaks well of him.
So does the fact that he can swim.
But though he swims without a sound,
Wherever he swims he looks around
With those two bright eyes and that one dark thought.
He has only one but he thinks it a lot.
And the thought he thinks but can never complete
Is his long dark thought of something to eat.
Most anything does. And I have to add
That when he eats, his manners are bad.
He's a gulper, a ripper, a snatcher, a grabber.
Yes, his manners are drab. But his thought is drabber.
That one dark thought he can never complete
Of something—anything—somehow to eat.

Be careful where you swim my sweet.

—John Ciardi

[BlueIris]

1. I just wanted to get this out there while it was still Shark Week.

In the interest of topicality.

[wildhorses]

2. cool.

be careful where and when, i might add;)

:hi:

[BlueIris]

3. That last line has always haunted me. nt

[The Straight Story]

4. A kick and a poem back at ya:

(nice poem and appropriate btw, and that last line is a doozy :)

Hallowed Halls

Moonlight
Waves crash hard upon the cliff
The cliff of the house
The place of those Hallowed Halls

Children sleep this night in it’s many rooms
A feeling of being watched taunting them
Wood creaks gently in a breeze
A warm glow seeping through the wood

Nights go by
Years
A restless spirit waifs about the halls
Of her hallowed home

Untouched by time she walks
In her home
Alone and quiet
Until this night

Serenity as they sleep
She watches, smiling at the children
Such joy they have brought her
She stands over a little girl
Memories of her childhood

A smell comes to her like a spirit
Beckoning her
Fear
Smoke waifs through the halls
Fire, here in her hallowed home

She is instantly there
And helpless
Flames lick the ceiling of the kitchen
The room below them
The children

The wood of the house cries out to her
Spirit meets it as she rages through the halls
Touching every bit of the wood
Calling to it

Life long ago thought lost
Gone from the depths of the forest
Erupts into her spirit
And she glows with a light not seen by human eyes
The fire grows

Spirit flies into a child’s room
Her little girl
She awakens at the light
And stares

Before the little girl stands the woman
Hair flowing in a spiritual wind
Dress clinging to her, flapping about
Knowing eyes

“Run, leave this house now!”
She jumps from bed and runs yelling down the hall
Unsure why, she yells of fire
Not of the ghost

People awaken
The blaze has grown
And the house is threatened
She watches as they all leave
Unable to fight the heat and smoke

Her house will die
And she with it
Spirit weeps
Aches

Aimlessly people mill about
Glow of the moon on them
Shouts
Hugs from parents
And she stands alone in the house

Wind picks up
Rages
A breeze breaks through the real world
To hers

She floats to a balcony and looks out to the sea
Waves far below
Too far
And the wind grows

Memories long gone come to her
A mighty wave reaches up the cliff
To her balcony

There before her eyes
Illuminated in the moonlight
The water stands still
And for the first time in over a hundred years
She sees Him

Arms spread wide he calls the sea to her
And the waves obey
With the force of an ancient love
Water comes forth from the sea
From him

It envelopes the house
Crashing into it
And rushes to the fire
Hissing and smoke pour out
And their eyes meet

Long ago lovers
He built his ship from their place
Deep in the woods
And set sail

Their hands had crafted it together
They would travel together
This man and his lover
To see the world

Then they came
To her forest
Their home
Trying to stop them
A bullet through her heart

Falling she grabbed an old oak
And died there
Enraged he had killed them all
And wept for days over her

He buried her then
In her trees
And left in his boat
To his sea he so dreamed of
To the crashing rocks
To his death

Years gone by
And new men came
They took the trees
And made this house
And with the trees came her spirit

He looked at her
A wet hand reached out
Taking it she pulled him from the waves
To her house
To her heart

[BlueIris]

6. Aw, thanks. We like audience participation.

:-)

[wildhorses]

7. is this another one of yours?

bookmarking to read later...

:hi:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear BlueIris!

Wow, this one is so evocative!

I like it!

Thanks ...:woohoo:

[I Have A Dream]

8. Thanks, BI!

:scared:

:)

[ThomCat]

9. That poem is so very much NOT about sharks.

:cry:

[BlueIris]

10. Okay, I'm just going to have to stop posting poems that make you use the "cry" smile.

For a while, anyway.

I have a much nicer, gentler poem picked out for tonight.

[ThomCat]

11. No, that's okay.

Poems that make me cry are having an emotional impact. I'm saving some of these. :)

[BlueIris]

12. Aw, another person who is SAVING a few of these. Awesome.

Just when I was going to give up and quit...