deepundergroundpoetry.com
Calliope
I’ve lost a lot of blood. It runs out
of me like God. My mother was
ballerina-white. Wore flapper
dresses and silver tap shoes
while dishes rotted in the sink.
Danced to the sinuous rhythm
of milk sweating to the floor.
I hang suspended over the bath tub,
smoking cigarette after cigarette.
Every hope lost you could ever
grow to love me. The shelf lined
with girls in mourning gowns,
gray as the dolls they found
floating in the river. How the
hemline of my dress speaks
of child abuse and gin. Wolves
and witches in our red velvet bed,
my body opening like a book
then closing gently around you.
The dryness at my lips. Once
your hands fed my mouth,
tasting of apples and cedar.
of me like God. My mother was
ballerina-white. Wore flapper
dresses and silver tap shoes
while dishes rotted in the sink.
Danced to the sinuous rhythm
of milk sweating to the floor.
I hang suspended over the bath tub,
smoking cigarette after cigarette.
Every hope lost you could ever
grow to love me. The shelf lined
with girls in mourning gowns,
gray as the dolls they found
floating in the river. How the
hemline of my dress speaks
of child abuse and gin. Wolves
and witches in our red velvet bed,
my body opening like a book
then closing gently around you.
The dryness at my lips. Once
your hands fed my mouth,
tasting of apples and cedar.
Published 27th Dec 2014
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27th Dec 2014 8:48pm
27th Dec 2014 10:32pm
It amazes me how you come up with sights I find so appealing yet at the same time macabre. "Girls in mourning gowns, / gray as the dolls they found / floating in the river" is one such. Some might find this disturbing. Not me. At least the dolls were found. Then there's the fairy tale imagery of "Wolves and witches in our red velvet bed," then "my body opening like a book / then closing gently around you." If it were not for the preceding line of "my dress speaks of child abuse and gin" I would say this is a sexual awakening. Maybe it's the first time sex is a pleasurable experience, "tasting of apples and cedar." I'm not sure I understood, but I very much enjoyed this, Toni.
Anonymous
28th Dec 2014 9:08am
Toni once again this is amazing, the way u describe how she feels so accurately and yet still so abstract..fantastic ink
