It was a blustery night here in Brisbane, but Cindy ‘the girl with kaleidoscope eyes’ Keong and Ashley ‘pink galaxies’ Martin found the light in their own neck of the woods. And as always, filled me with their joy! This week, I riffed on a darker theme, but hopefully, there is some light in there for you (at the end of the tunnel)…
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I know a guy who saves twist ties
and collates spare threads that come
with his new shirts. He despairs that
I am careless, giving away
what might be wanted later
like a favorite lip gloss,
a particular one
applied without friction
to the outlines of my mouth
plumping them into a bow
as we go to the carnival
he will take his cotton candy
home. I watch the girl spooling it
around the stick, pink galaxies
a planet or at least a moon
AM
**********
CK
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I sit at the desk and shuffle
papers all about me.
The casuarinas in the park
reach out to find their place
each bough hiding the face
of a woman waiting to be kissed.
I sketch on the back of a letter
a girl lying alone in the forest
a child bride sinking into green
foliage – wild dogs and devils
slow dancing around her.
In this world men lower hats
just enough to see the scream
and boys like jaded salesmen watch
as if everything is happening at
the wrong end of a very long tunnel.
GN
dang..yours is a bit dark indeed this week…haunting and a bit surreal with the tunnel view in the end..
yeah… i think the swirl of deadlines was haunting me and as a result, this tumbled out.
As Claudia notes a bit darker than your usual verses…deadlines have a way or altering our psyche.
Not dark, I take a holistic view; the carnival dreams, spinning fairy floss suddenly explodes through kaleidoscopic visions and we are left watching the shallow pretense of life, I’d even go so far as the meld the three works and have your girl sitting in the sodded field after the carnival has left town, the wild dogs and devils are the discarded stuffed toy prizes from the night before.
Yes! Yes! to Mark’s interpretation!!!
I triple that Yes!
This is an incredibly insightful reading of the trio of work Mark! It’s made me see it all with fresh eyes!
Most weeks I run all three together, too. Perhaps I am just really literal minded, but they seem like one ‘thing’ to me, and I love that about this project. They work individually, but they do something special and very complex when taken as a whole.
I can’t wait to look back on the project as a whole, as one large body of work… though, sadly, that will mean the year is over… am sure there will be another project though!
Yes indeedy–I have an idea for a 2013 project rattling around my head, but it needs a clever title, and participants. We will have to discuss it after Christmas.
I look forward to that discussion A!