The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Wed 4/23/2008)

[RetroLounge]

The Welcoming

Distance was the house from which I welcomed you.
Time, time was the house, and to welcome you
I strung garlands of eggshells and rubies.

Thirsty I welcomed you, you the salt
sucked from the tips of braids
after running from the ocean of someone else's childhood.

I turned the skeleton key. I welcomed you from the narthex
of invisible churches.

There at the marble bar at the Folks-Bergère
I welcomed you in the mirror,
waving my chartreuse tumbler,
wearing my velvet choker, wafting my nocturnal perfume.

On the subway of extranjeros
I patted the empty seat beside me.

I foraged for you in welcome. Like a bottlenose dolphin,
I tore sponge from the sea floor
covered my beautiful nose with it and dug between barnacled rocks.
Yes I welcomed you with my efficient body.

I welcomed you from the house of memory,
where I am lonely

Again I vow not to think about whether you arrived,
or in what state.

Just that I was there, welcoming

with a singed collar, with a bee balmed in amber,
with an oyster cracker, a seashell full of champagne.

I welcomed you from a house of needles.
I welcomed you from the fists of babies.
Standing on the doormat
of' my black shadow,
with a beginner's brow, with a hoop of angels,
with the ache of unlit candles,
I welcomed you.

Beth Ann Fennelly

******************************

:hi:

RL

[YankeyMCC]

1. I'm sure I'm missing or misinterpeting

some or all of the meaning here but I think I like it and the images it prompts in my mind as wrong, in terms of what the poet intended, as they may be.

[Inchworm]

2. Whoa- a thinker

This is the kind of stuff I enjoy the most. Something beautifully written that I have to re-read several times just to guess what the underlying meaning is.

I think she is talking to her self and describing the acceptance of it.

But hey, who knows :P

:applause:

[BlueIris]

3. Curious. And happy Shakespeare's birthday to you! nt

[xchrom]

4. that's very cool!

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.    

[RetroLounge]

6. ...

:hi:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear Retro...

How lovely...

...I welcomed you from the house of memory,
where I am lonely...

Thank you...

:hi:

[lizziegrace]

7. I've read this 4 times

and each time interpret it in a different way.

'tis a mystery.

:hug: