deepundergroundpoetry.com
Rite of the Totem
Sunlight mottled sheen on a borrowed car,
I drove to fetch your mouth to mine,
No longer exists, having fired back
From beds of earthen berm and out
Into the cosmos of colors and ice
Tails trailing a torpedo of rock, your
Eyes burning with lust premeditation,
Affixed to me with newness of
Adoration, no longer exist,
They have pressed out ten thousand
Layers of film, as years of sand and wind
Scoured away their gilding, into a face of
Untold seasons we have not
Shared, your arms have shed
Skin after skin into someone else’s
Bed, like a thrush nest overtaken by a
Predator, their scent so alien,
My nose cannot follow,
Even when we share the dream
Horizon, instead, following the specter
You left at the river swept pier,
Warped from rectangles into green
Swathed bulges and red nails
Thrust up into caltrops,
Where you last tilted my face down
Into a kiss you knew was
Goodbye, but I,
Fool that I remain, only tasted
Your warm soul rising through the
Window box of your heart like a
Sapling into early sunlight
Globe light haloes the ragged
Curtain pressed behind the bed like
Your sweat soaked hair after
Thrashing me at table hockey,
Drinking my rum and soda left
On the bar, cubes melt into a
Film, prescient of ice caps, chins
Dashing into a salt
Sea, there are soot circles on the
Shelf where I’ve thrown away empty
Bottles standing like mile markers,
For times we laughed and hurt
The fuck out of each other, stupid
Drunk with youth and spooling
Away hours in dust phantoms that
Were swept by on a breeze,
Between gusts of laughter,
And thusly,
Took up no permanent residence,
I want to hold your breathing
Body again,
While your heart beats its back to me
There is a path out of this pillbox into
Strange and lurid places, my
Feet have yet to find, where smoke
Rings are making a warbling
Orifice across a dim lit room, beer can
Stains placed just beside the
Coaster, a face slapdash with too
Much rouge and eyes that dance
A bulge beneath turquoise
Mascara and do not care a
Whit for anything but the ash
Cylinder of a cigarette, burning like a
Guillotined neck between a knobby
Impasse of digits, a blood stain pool
Behind a game trail, leaves fresh with
Aortic spray, an auburn-skinned
Form sliding into waters sizzling with
Salt and morning sun that holds
Out a promised burn, hands gently
Cupped about a glass into
A smile, a bus stop
Sandwich discarded as the doors
Close on a foot heel,
But, first,
To roll the stone over this tomb,
Bric-a-brac collected yearly like
Shore weed, left in a box by
A door, reading,
“Donations accepted,”
Find me here, first, but
I hope, in some distant
When,
Find me there
He opened a brown paper bag
a flaked missile imbibing hissing
nightcap after nightcap
necromancing fingers tapping against glass
Prophet of dream, I ask, How many syllables of bird?
drawing cosmic longitude
into latitude of strangers
We shared the same womb
though we were not identical
even truth is forgetful sometimes
only one of us stood amid
two halo moons
peeling old prose off dead nails
wearing our names
Rhododendrons hold out their hands
wintering away
through paper mache moments
youth enveloped spirits
stood at my doorway
Hellenic hymns still speak
you had return a holographic image
to cajole us
into sorcery
Invocation of belonging,
No one belongs here more than you.
Rosary tongue rolls into my mouth like prayer mats.
In the timelessness of time paradox,
The sun rains memories into revolving pulpits.
Distant as a corpse from their heart left to science.
Upon a Communion trail the bread is stale,
Love’s barrel bleeds into DNA vineyards.
Mary Magdalene waits in satin groves.
I drove to fetch your mouth to mine,
No longer exists, having fired back
From beds of earthen berm and out
Into the cosmos of colors and ice
Tails trailing a torpedo of rock, your
Eyes burning with lust premeditation,
Affixed to me with newness of
Adoration, no longer exist,
They have pressed out ten thousand
Layers of film, as years of sand and wind
Scoured away their gilding, into a face of
Untold seasons we have not
Shared, your arms have shed
Skin after skin into someone else’s
Bed, like a thrush nest overtaken by a
Predator, their scent so alien,
My nose cannot follow,
Even when we share the dream
Horizon, instead, following the specter
You left at the river swept pier,
Warped from rectangles into green
Swathed bulges and red nails
Thrust up into caltrops,
Where you last tilted my face down
Into a kiss you knew was
Goodbye, but I,
Fool that I remain, only tasted
Your warm soul rising through the
Window box of your heart like a
Sapling into early sunlight
Globe light haloes the ragged
Curtain pressed behind the bed like
Your sweat soaked hair after
Thrashing me at table hockey,
Drinking my rum and soda left
On the bar, cubes melt into a
Film, prescient of ice caps, chins
Dashing into a salt
Sea, there are soot circles on the
Shelf where I’ve thrown away empty
Bottles standing like mile markers,
For times we laughed and hurt
The fuck out of each other, stupid
Drunk with youth and spooling
Away hours in dust phantoms that
Were swept by on a breeze,
Between gusts of laughter,
And thusly,
Took up no permanent residence,
I want to hold your breathing
Body again,
While your heart beats its back to me
There is a path out of this pillbox into
Strange and lurid places, my
Feet have yet to find, where smoke
Rings are making a warbling
Orifice across a dim lit room, beer can
Stains placed just beside the
Coaster, a face slapdash with too
Much rouge and eyes that dance
A bulge beneath turquoise
Mascara and do not care a
Whit for anything but the ash
Cylinder of a cigarette, burning like a
Guillotined neck between a knobby
Impasse of digits, a blood stain pool
Behind a game trail, leaves fresh with
Aortic spray, an auburn-skinned
Form sliding into waters sizzling with
Salt and morning sun that holds
Out a promised burn, hands gently
Cupped about a glass into
A smile, a bus stop
Sandwich discarded as the doors
Close on a foot heel,
But, first,
To roll the stone over this tomb,
Bric-a-brac collected yearly like
Shore weed, left in a box by
A door, reading,
“Donations accepted,”
Find me here, first, but
I hope, in some distant
When,
Find me there
He opened a brown paper bag
a flaked missile imbibing hissing
nightcap after nightcap
necromancing fingers tapping against glass
Prophet of dream, I ask, How many syllables of bird?
drawing cosmic longitude
into latitude of strangers
We shared the same womb
though we were not identical
even truth is forgetful sometimes
only one of us stood amid
two halo moons
peeling old prose off dead nails
wearing our names
Rhododendrons hold out their hands
wintering away
through paper mache moments
youth enveloped spirits
stood at my doorway
Hellenic hymns still speak
you had return a holographic image
to cajole us
into sorcery
Invocation of belonging,
No one belongs here more than you.
Rosary tongue rolls into my mouth like prayer mats.
In the timelessness of time paradox,
The sun rains memories into revolving pulpits.
Distant as a corpse from their heart left to science.
Upon a Communion trail the bread is stale,
Love’s barrel bleeds into DNA vineyards.
Mary Magdalene waits in satin groves.
Published 13th Jan 2023
Author's Note
This was written by myself, Rian and Strangeways_Rob together in a collaboration. 3 writers, 3 stanzas each, so we agreed upon the symbolism of the totem, hence the title and the image. I hope enjoy our effort at writing together.
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 18
reading list entries 12
comments 31
reads 540
Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
13th Jan 2023 10:11pm
Hell yes, it's glorious. There's so much I love -
'Layers of film, as years of sand and wind
Scoured away their gilding, into a face of
Untold seasons we have not
Shared, your arms have shed
Skin after skin into someone else’s
Bed, like a thrush nest overtaken by a
Predator, their scent so alien,
My nose cannot follow,'
'A smile, a bus stop
Sandwich discarded as the doors
Close on a foot heel,
But, first,
To roll the stone over this tomb,'
'Dashing into a salt
Sea, there are soot circles on the
Shelf where I’ve thrown away empty
Bottles standing like mile markers,'
'Prophet of dream, I ask, How many syllables of bird?
drawing cosmic longitude
into latitude of strangers'
'No one belongs here more than you.
Rosary tongue rolls into my mouth like prayer mats.'
I am curious what inspired this section, just to understand further.
'We shared the same womb
though we were not identical
even truth is forgetful sometimes
only one of us stood amid
two halo moons
peeling old prose off dead nails
wearing our names'
I take it it's playing with the concept of twin flame but I'm not sure?
Regardless this is super strong, well done to all of you. What a feat.
'Layers of film, as years of sand and wind
Scoured away their gilding, into a face of
Untold seasons we have not
Shared, your arms have shed
Skin after skin into someone else’s
Bed, like a thrush nest overtaken by a
Predator, their scent so alien,
My nose cannot follow,'
'A smile, a bus stop
Sandwich discarded as the doors
Close on a foot heel,
But, first,
To roll the stone over this tomb,'
'Dashing into a salt
Sea, there are soot circles on the
Shelf where I’ve thrown away empty
Bottles standing like mile markers,'
'Prophet of dream, I ask, How many syllables of bird?
drawing cosmic longitude
into latitude of strangers'
'No one belongs here more than you.
Rosary tongue rolls into my mouth like prayer mats.'
I am curious what inspired this section, just to understand further.
'We shared the same womb
though we were not identical
even truth is forgetful sometimes
only one of us stood amid
two halo moons
peeling old prose off dead nails
wearing our names'
I take it it's playing with the concept of twin flame but I'm not sure?
Regardless this is super strong, well done to all of you. What a feat.
13th Jan 2023 10:16pm
It all came together rather nicely I think through emails and then just deciding a few things and then putting it together. Rob and Rian should be posting to their catalogues before long and any perspectives they have on the collaboration.
I got the sense of twin flame from that section as well, when Rian posts, feel free to ask her. I felt like my section I was writing enraptured, Rian writes from a place that is entwined of the personal and mystical and Rob brings a sublime, mature, controlled intimacy in his stanzas, which together compliment each other as much by being different as sharing the thread of time, experience and humanity.
I got the sense of twin flame from that section as well, when Rian posts, feel free to ask her. I felt like my section I was writing enraptured, Rian writes from a place that is entwined of the personal and mystical and Rob brings a sublime, mature, controlled intimacy in his stanzas, which together compliment each other as much by being different as sharing the thread of time, experience and humanity.
13th Jan 2023 10:26pm
Anonymous
- Edited 29th May 2023 7:45am
13th Jan 2023 10:37pm
<< post removed >>
13th Jan 2023 10:42pm
Superb sum up Rianne, grateful for your honouring me with your time post-script. <3 It's an amazing collective piece, pleasure to read it. Thank you.
Anonymous
- Edited 29th May 2023 7:45am
13th Jan 2023 10:28pm
<< post removed >>
14th Jan 2023 4:05pm
Many thanks to you and Rob for writing with me. I feel like it's a blessing to know you both and our friends here. 💖 It did synch up nice once we started putting it together I think.
Anonymous
- Edited 13th Jan 2023 11:08pm
13th Jan 2023 11:06pm
Absolute pleasure to write alongside Rianne & Daniel. Think our mutual respect shines through. Based on Past/Present/Future. Took the inspiration of first love. She was Catholic, hence the religious motif in my stanzas. Ironically, very rarely think of her, but ghosts are omnipotent. Lurking. On a visit to Rome in later life, politely declined a visit to the Vatican Museum. Lol.
The empathy implicit in collabs is a positive step forward to foster community spirit in my humble opinion.
*Need my sleep right now, but will add the poem to my list in the morning.
The empathy implicit in collabs is a positive step forward to foster community spirit in my humble opinion.
*Need my sleep right now, but will add the poem to my list in the morning.
14th Jan 2023 4:07pm
I can see the imagery throughout I think with religious themes they call it iconography, for believers and adherents, surely has a big impact on their lives and relationships. My brother went to Rome he said it was dirty, crowded with tourists like himself but amazing haha
Definitely going to see if I can do some more collaboration with you and others I've found it really inspiring. Thank you for being here, being a friend and colleague.
Definitely going to see if I can do some more collaboration with you and others I've found it really inspiring. Thank you for being here, being a friend and colleague.
14th Jan 2023 1:35am
This is incredible work, a veritable symphony of the senses! I am blown away by the harmony of this entire piece, it’s just so well done. I’m still in awe of what I just read, and have no specific thoughts I can nail down at the moment; I just had to say how much I thoroughly enjoyed every note.
14th Jan 2023 4:08pm
Thank you sweetheart it was really a joy and pleasure to draw from the collective energy and put this together. I've found having someone you're writing to really gets the pen moving as it were. 💖
14th Jan 2023 4:31am
Dear D,
This is an epic poem. Between the three of you the blending was superb. While the storylines were clear yet separate they all seemed to meld together. It felt as though I was watching three different movies with one goal in common. At the end of it the three main characters all found each other at the totem. To be sure, I’ve simplified all the intended meanings and while my mind is…simple 🤷🏻♀️
The work is not. Outstanding, complex, intriguing and awesome.
Congratulations to all three of you. H🌷
This is an epic poem. Between the three of you the blending was superb. While the storylines were clear yet separate they all seemed to meld together. It felt as though I was watching three different movies with one goal in common. At the end of it the three main characters all found each other at the totem. To be sure, I’ve simplified all the intended meanings and while my mind is…simple 🤷🏻♀️
The work is not. Outstanding, complex, intriguing and awesome.
Congratulations to all three of you. H🌷
14th Jan 2023 4:15pm
Lady H thank you so much I felt the same about it when it was done and I was in reflection. At first I wasn't sure what we'd write or how it would come together, but then when you consider the common thread of memories, love, loss and how it all fits into our overall picture of life, it synchronizes in that energy.
14th Jan 2023 8:49am
This is truly brilliant. I love the collaboration between you three I will be back to read it again♥️
Love Jackie
Love Jackie
14th Jan 2023 4:17pm
Thank you Jackie it was an inspiring experience. When I had my first idea, first image for the piece, the rest of my bit came right along.
14th Jan 2023 4:56pm
This was a great artistic feat. I like the mergence of talent, while enjoying the solo performances as well. Totem symbolism; creative. Beautiful descriptives throughout!
14th Jan 2023 5:02pm
Thank you so much it was exciting and inspiring to write together with a couple of the friends I've made on site. I really appreciate you taking a look.
14th Jan 2023 8:08pm
14th Jan 2023 8:19pm
Thank you LDF it was really fun working together on this write and I'm looking forward to more experiments.
15th Jan 2023 12:21pm
15th Jan 2023 3:59pm
Thank you I've been finding collaboration exciting and inspiring , working on a couple more at the moment as well. 💖
Anonymous
16th Jan 2023 00:35am
It's like reading a piece of art in a museum from each angle a different light reveals another dimension.
All three pieces are unique and yet they blend so well together building around the universal knowledge yet interpreted so subjectively.
It would be unfair to pick out certain lines when everything is part of the seamless canvass but I can say that i'm highly impressed how talented and honed each one of you are.
It's been a pleasure knowing Mourganna for many years and her amazing depth of language and skill not to mention how spiritual her poetry is, there's always element of mystery shrouded around her words which leaves me in awe to this day.
Daniel, you are so brilliant and you offer so much through your writing that if I could I'd like to crawl in your mind to just see the world through your eyes, the way you process, reflect and present is unlike anything i've ever read before by anyone.
As for Rob, i'm just starting to get to know him though his poetry and I'm so impressed how beautifully he can bring an imagery to life. It feels like one is right there experiencing it which is so hard to pull when there's a fine line between holding back and letting go. I can see how disciplined he is yet we, as readers feel honored that he took us on his journey.
Bravo to all of you!
All three pieces are unique and yet they blend so well together building around the universal knowledge yet interpreted so subjectively.
It would be unfair to pick out certain lines when everything is part of the seamless canvass but I can say that i'm highly impressed how talented and honed each one of you are.
It's been a pleasure knowing Mourganna for many years and her amazing depth of language and skill not to mention how spiritual her poetry is, there's always element of mystery shrouded around her words which leaves me in awe to this day.
Daniel, you are so brilliant and you offer so much through your writing that if I could I'd like to crawl in your mind to just see the world through your eyes, the way you process, reflect and present is unlike anything i've ever read before by anyone.
As for Rob, i'm just starting to get to know him though his poetry and I'm so impressed how beautifully he can bring an imagery to life. It feels like one is right there experiencing it which is so hard to pull when there's a fine line between holding back and letting go. I can see how disciplined he is yet we, as readers feel honored that he took us on his journey.
Bravo to all of you!
16th Jan 2023 00:48am
I've felt inspired and excited and warm writing with Rob and Rianne. I feel privileged to know all of you and all our friends here, meeting in this place of heart voice. You're all so beautiful to me. Thank you my friend.
16th Jan 2023 4:44am
As I've said to your conspirators (in different words. Lol), y'all must have stolen this epic from long lost writers of yesteryear. It's too polished to be written newly.
Yes, I'm joking. But it is just as worthy as any.
Excellent crafting of talents. The result is triumphant.
Well done, Daniel.
Yes, I'm joking. But it is just as worthy as any.
Excellent crafting of talents. The result is triumphant.
Well done, Daniel.
16th Jan 2023 4:57am
Thank you brother the best part about writing together was just being excited and inspired so before we'd even posted it, it was such a great experience. I've already been trying to line up other collaborations. 🙏🏻
16th Jan 2023 11:34pm
Hands down, one of the best compounded collaboration I've read, so far.
A thought seed gifted, for sure.
Great fucking job fellow poet and poetess
Charles
A thought seed gifted, for sure.
Great fucking job fellow poet and poetess
Charles
16th Jan 2023 11:43pm
Charles thank you so much, it was a privilege to write together with a couple of our amazing friends here.💖🙏🏻
17th Jan 2023 3:17am
3-way collab sounds difficult to achieve but you all managed to sound as one person. To use marching band figure of speech, it’s like three snare players playing a variety of hybrid rudiments while keep them so clean it’s pretty seamless in the transitions amidst three individuals. Had you not mentioned this I would have not known, I had to go back and re-read.
Great work you three
Great work you three
17th Jan 2023 3:43pm
I don't think we could have asked for more Walter thank you so much and I love your analogy it's apt for how the whole thing worked out. Sending and receiving stanzas has been really inspiring and I hope to do more collaborations in the future.
1st Feb 2023 4:10pm
1st Feb 2023 11:39pm
