deepundergroundpoetry.com
< the red heart and the silver heart >
[/font] "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated
on it. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne. And then the book of life was
opened, and the dead were judged by what was written in
the book. And the sea gave up the dead, and the lake of
fire, the second death, rose up. And they were judged,
each one of them, according to what they had done. If
anyone's name was not found written in the book of
life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
- Revelation 20:11
the red heart and the silver heart
the first
filled with blood
the second
with the lightness of clouds
the red heart
a sharp knife
swings at your hand
never mind who
(maybe your other hand)
but the steel inside you
stops the knife
with the skin split
and the blood waits
and the two sides of flesh
are translucent
and the bone at the bottom
is white and gray
and then the blood comes
to relieve this paleness
to give it life
flowing easily
warmly
thickly
brightly
but later
it is almost black
the red heart
filled with blood
the silver
as thin as breath
watch a tree
throw itself against the sky
the silver heart believes
the tree
is the forked tongue
of some creature
buried
beneath the earth
licking the air
getting a taste of the sun
but the red
sees only blood
the red heart and the silver heart
on quiet nights
hear each other
beating between their own beats
hearing the voice of the other
hearing the voice of blood
hearing the voice of air
and between the beats of both
hear
the continents
miles down
rubbing rock against rock
singing with their heat
miles and miles down
the red heart and the silver heart
keep slivers of consciousness
magic
like the rocks are magic
living in the weather
that comes from the sun
and at night
the red goes on
the heart filled with blood
filled with the brilliant blood goes on
but the silver heart must rest
from writing down the story
from whole pages of hands
needing eyes
and much is missed
but the silver heart must rest
the red heart swells
again with blood
again with temples and sacrifice
obsidian blades
striking down to stone
with only a million ribs between
the red heart fills
and empties many times
and drinks it all as food and still is hungry
while the silver sleeps
the red heart and the silver heart
read the list of names
and they are always finding more
engraved in walls
printed in books
and the names they roll
roll from the silver
roll
into the red
and all the names
yours too
the red devours
- - -
The illustration is "Bleeding Heart", a painting by Tania Geyer: [/font]http://tiny.cc/TaniaGeyer
[/font]
[/font]
Published 13th Feb 2011
| Edited 15th May 2011
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 4
reading list entries 2
comments 9
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The author encourages honest critique.
14th Feb 2011 12:47pm
"the red heart swells
again with blood
again with temples and sacrifice
with black obsidian blades
striking down to stone
with only a million ribs between
the red heart fills
and empties many times
and drinks it all as food and still is hungry
while the silver sleeps"
---Magnificent images. This poem is just packed with substance.
again with blood
again with temples and sacrifice
with black obsidian blades
striking down to stone
with only a million ribs between
the red heart fills
and empties many times
and drinks it all as food and still is hungry
while the silver sleeps"
---Magnificent images. This poem is just packed with substance.
19th Feb 2011 7:10am
15th May 2011 1:23am
I am going to keep this in my little bookmarky bit -- the first time I've used it -- for further digestion (with knife and forked tongue). Each time I read it I focus on a different part and the meaning shifts, which is always a flag for bloody good poetry.
Just quickly though, you probably don't need "black obsidian", that's one too many adjectives. And it's always good to find someone else with an "and" fetish -- can't start a line with a conjunction, my arse. Subvert grammar at every opportunity.
Just quickly though, you probably don't need "black obsidian", that's one too many adjectives. And it's always good to find someone else with an "and" fetish -- can't start a line with a conjunction, my arse. Subvert grammar at every opportunity.
jeez, you're right!
if there's anything i hate (even in an over-the-top poem like this),
is too many modifiers. just changed:
again with temples and sacrifice
with black obsidian blades
striking down to stone
to:
again with temples and sacrifice
obsidian blades
striking down to stone
thanks.
and yes, those little words like "and" are what add breath (life) to poems.
here's a poem i wrote a while back:
< on getting rid of little words >
those little words may be like dirt
and crawling everywhere like ants
but they can lift ten times their weight
while other words are elephants
and getting rid of little words
is getting rid of breath and air
if you get rid of little words
the bigger ones grow hair
- - -
if there's anything i hate (even in an over-the-top poem like this),
is too many modifiers. just changed:
again with temples and sacrifice
with black obsidian blades
striking down to stone
to:
again with temples and sacrifice
obsidian blades
striking down to stone
thanks.
and yes, those little words like "and" are what add breath (life) to poems.
here's a poem i wrote a while back:
< on getting rid of little words >
those little words may be like dirt
and crawling everywhere like ants
but they can lift ten times their weight
while other words are elephants
and getting rid of little words
is getting rid of breath and air
if you get rid of little words
the bigger ones grow hair
- - -
15th May 2011 9:24pm
Amen to that.
One of my uni tutors was anti-and -- he was mad for stripping "unnecessary" words so that he ended up with basically lists of shite. Oh, and no rhyme, he was dead against that. He also told me once that you can't write from the perspective of a dead person :) He must be in his 60s now, and still writing angsty bollocks, but these days he uses a word generator and calls it "cyber poetry".
I'd run him over if I could, but he's a big fat bugger.
One of my uni tutors was anti-and -- he was mad for stripping "unnecessary" words so that he ended up with basically lists of shite. Oh, and no rhyme, he was dead against that. He also told me once that you can't write from the perspective of a dead person :) He must be in his 60s now, and still writing angsty bollocks, but these days he uses a word generator and calls it "cyber poetry".
I'd run him over if I could, but he's a big fat bugger.
17th May 2011 9:58am
Yes. All sorts of formulas. A writer friend of mine had a sure-fire formula:
"If you don't like a poem you've written, omit the last line.
If you still don't like it, omit the last line again.
Keep doing this until you like it."
"If you don't like a poem you've written, omit the last line.
If you still don't like it, omit the last line again.
Keep doing this until you like it."
Anonymous
- Edited 9th Jun 2011 6:17am
18th May 2011 9:16pm
<< post removed >>
19th May 2011 8:00pm
I'm not sure about the bible quote either, but the
painting seemed to want it,
so I put it in. Without the image, maybe not.
"it stuck out to me"
you know what they say: "better stuck out than stuck in".
painting seemed to want it,
so I put it in. Without the image, maybe not.
"it stuck out to me"
you know what they say: "better stuck out than stuck in".
21st Jul 2012 5:51am
Im fascinated by the flow and articulate penned words. They themselves paint an intricate image.
