deepundergroundpoetry.com
Devil’s Breath, Poison Slow
How devil’s breath stirs air in Angel’s grace,
With scented masks and hope for brighter day.
How poison slow that hope, despair replace!
In L.A.’s rant, with Burbank sitcom pace,
It’s fevered sick behind bleached smiles display.
How devil’s breath stirs air in Angel’s grace.
The burnished wind of summer’s hell-fire base,
But Marlowe knows cold noir of Winter’s stay.
How poison slow that hope, despair replace.
When Gabriel’s bald heads, white "toups" replace,
The hard sea storms that river's concrete flay,
How devil’s breath stirs air in Angel’s grace.
What broiled with unrelenting sun burned face,
Burns lower flames that cancel asphalt spray.
How poison slow that hope despair replace.
Like Eve, her Apple freed the snake’s embrace,
In Eden’s north where poetry holds sway.
How devil’s breath stirs air in Angel’s grace,
How poison slow that hope despair replace.
Published 27th Feb 2018
| Edited 2nd Mar 2018
Author's Note
Inspired by the duality of Los Angeles: the setting for both Bay Watch and Raymond Chandler's Noir; the home of 113° desert summers, dry as dust and 30° driving winter cold-ocean rains that cut to the bone.
I have used the villanelle as the form and have used constructions like "poison slow" - which can be a time description or a poison that is very slow acting, or "will hope despair replace" which is ambiguous enough to mean either "hope" replacing "despair" or "despair" replacing "hope," etc.
I have used the villanelle as the form and have used constructions like "poison slow" - which can be a time description or a poison that is very slow acting, or "will hope despair replace" which is ambiguous enough to mean either "hope" replacing "despair" or "despair" replacing "hope," etc.
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