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tetanus

Image ( via Magpie Tales) Google Images

blood stains
freckle
snow-white linen
like rusted lace

cover me with
wild adrenaline
sloppy, split lip 
apologetic kisses

 i hide my face
yet still
i hear
sharp-edged marbles 

 in your mouth
tumbling
over scotch rocks
and little red last straws

 nobody knows
this more
that doesn't meet 
their eye

 no news 
is good weather
no bruise dear
it'll get better

 we soothe ourselves
with lullabies
and true lies
just rest now, dear

 leave hold 
of your world
pull up a chair
let go of my hair

 the taste of bile 
once on your lips,
how quick
the monster slips 

i wait
i pray you drift soon,
soundly
sweetly

a little boy
on soiled sheets
a broken spirit
spinning webs

i lick my wounds
under cover
my jaw locked

my mind loaded


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Comments

  1. BoJanuary 9, 2013 at 9:13 PM

    You have a real talent for poetry. Great writing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian MillerJanuary 9, 2013 at 9:23 PM

    some very cool descriptors rene...i like how linen and adrenaline play...the marbles and scotch rocks in the mouth...no news is good weather is an interesting line as well...nicely done...

    ReplyDelete
  3. PearlJanuary 10, 2013 at 8:23 AM

    sharp edged marbles in your mouth
    tumbling over scotch rocks
    and little red last straws

    Oh, Rene. Your talent blows me away.

    Pearl

    ReplyDelete
  4. ClaudiaJanuary 10, 2013 at 4:16 PM

    dang...sharp edged marbles...tight images in this and well played on the dark mood

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 4:23 PM

    Yow! These images evoke all sorts of pain, sadness. "We soothe ourselves with lullabyes and true lies." For me, that's the zinger!

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 4:40 PM

    This is really uncomfortable to read, not because it's written badly - far from it, it's very skillfully composed - but because of all the hard-edged images and my responses to them. The lies we tell ourselves, each other and the world - all to try and maintain the pretence that everything is OK.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sherry Blue SkyJanuary 10, 2013 at 5:15 PM

    Powerful words and mental images of the bruises, the blood. "We soothe ourselves with lullabies and true lies", the "it'll get better"....you have completely nailed the abusive relationship.

    ReplyDelete
  8. JeffJanuary 10, 2013 at 8:56 PM

    You really brought this image alive, setting the reader on edge, dis-ease in every line. Very, very well done!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousJanuary 10, 2013 at 9:26 PM

    How sad. It read like a house of violence and misuse. Very cutting images, touched my heart to the point I hope experince was fiction, but it read very real.

    ReplyDelete
  10. kelvin s.m.January 11, 2013 at 9:56 AM

    ...Tight write and gives many layers of forming your imagery... very nice...smiles...

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownJanuary 11, 2013 at 1:47 PM

    Very vivid. Amazingly real. The taste of bile is unfortunately something I know too well so that left a bitter taste in my mouth but this poem had a eerie but very deep message. The picture that you have with it is very tragic looking- and gives insight to your poetic story :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kathy ReedJanuary 11, 2013 at 4:58 PM

    also hope it's fiction...'little red last straws'..biting narrative..;)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Vodka MomJanuary 11, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    you are so incredible. Each and EVERY time.


    holy Cheezus.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Vodka MomJanuary 11, 2013 at 8:38 PM

    and yes, the shoes are ALSO amazing.



    lol

    ReplyDelete
  15. lucychiliJanuary 11, 2013 at 9:58 PM

    what happens next
    best wishes
    j

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownJanuary 11, 2013 at 10:11 PM

    Just to put you all at ease this is a work of fiction inspired by the Afghan Whigs song Debonair.
    It is a disturbing song about substance abuse and how it screws up relationships and lives.

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownJanuary 12, 2013 at 6:57 AM

    A poem very well written and well structured. The lies are used to control the people but it is only illusory control and self-destructive because in truth is the only evil that can do us good.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Frank WatsonJanuary 12, 2013 at 9:07 AM

    I've been there, the images of the poem hit hard

    ReplyDelete

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