Clue
life from the trees. I tilt my head to best capture
abittor's pur. Each moment I wait for the bus
is an hour I could have spent flayed,
photographing wounds and mailing them
to you. Thank your lucky stars Chicago
jigs to it's own drum, our trains stage
their own cues. Tremors gardens in
the form of skyscrapers:
waves petrified by guilt.
Very interesting poem! It kept the wheels in my head turning for quite a long time. At first glance, I was getting a “waiting for the bus while my mind drifts off to other things” type of vibe. After thinking on it a few times, I still get that original vibe but with a much deeper story woven into it.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1st stanza, “Dickensian sex” reminds me of Charles Dickens and the culture in the Victorian Era where most people kept their sex lives hidden because openly talking about it was taboo. The line about the lumber makes me think of the original definition about cutting trees, but I’m also reminded of the old Scottish slang word “lumber” which refers to a perspective sex partner. Piecing all of that together, I’m imagining a story being told of having a hidden, love/hate relationship with someone who drains the life/joy out of me. Combing this story with the line about the abettor’s purr, I’m guessing that thinking about the way things are with this person would evoke such strong emotions that I can almost hear the sound of my heart being slaughtered.
Moving into the 2nd stanza, the word flayed also give me double meanings - to remove skin harshly or to criticize harshly. I think it can mean both at the same time, and represent both physical and emotional wounds. It gives me the idea of, “this person hurts me, so I want to hurt him/her back and attract his/her concern for me by hurting myself.”
The line about Chicago feels like a snap back into reality. It gives me the “what I imagined didn’t happen, and now I’m back at the bus stop making sense of the world around me, as well as my own feelings” type of vibe.
Overall, I think there’s a lot of complex, dark, and thought-provoking imagery in there. I enjoyed reading this, and I like your creativity!