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| Totem |
I am cauldron
of the dark side of the sun –
multifoliate flower
on the blasted bough of midnight
I am furnace
burning with blackened flame –
tarnished coin
on the eye socket of death
I am shadow
stain of the blood moon –
mirthless medallion
caught between teeth of a fool’s grin
For Brendan's Totems challenge: How would you carve your totem song?
These are dark totems, but when one is trying to find their way through the soul's nightscape, much better to have these as familiars. A three stanza charm for shadows that lengthen ...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brendan. This was an interesting challenge, and not so easy to find a way in..
DeleteI am so affected by your handwriting. Today, it's the perfectly parallel (to the baseline) crossing of T's in your title, and the fact that you've given your f's descenders.
ReplyDeleteA well-meaning individual on Instagram suggested I type out my poems. I told him I did not cater for people who only want to read type on a screen and if they didn't like the reading experience, they did not have to visit my page.
DeleteSo, thank you, Shawna, for being affected by handwriting.. mine is imperfect but it is real.
I LOVE the handwriting! Makes me want to try it.
DeleteIf I had such beautiful – and legible – handwriting, I might do it too. (Smile.) I appreciate getting it both ways here.
DeleteI think the first stanza is fitting (and scary-beautiful). The second and third go too far. You are not that dark. You are just dark enough.
ReplyDeleteI have my dark days.
DeleteA wonderful poem!!
ReplyDeletedarkly beautiful and I love love that last line
ReplyDeleteBewitching totems ! I love the darkness of them. The blackened flame evokes such powerful imagery.
ReplyDeleteWow! Your words pack power, my friend. "The blasted bough of midnight" is stellar, and I love the blackened flame and tarnished coin on the eye socket of death! Whew. Amazing imagery.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at "multifoliate."
ReplyDeleteImagery in this jumps right out at you. I love, "the blasted bough of midnight."
ReplyDeleteI am cauldron on the dark side of the sun ....
ReplyDeletewow, now that is just a fabulous image - really brilliant for the power of the image it invokes;
so how could I not be drawn in and spiral into the dizzying drop of "darker" here, in the rest of the poem? which features such neat, compact and very compelling lines/phrases/images .... to savour;
sometimes, we have to meet and greet our hearts of darkness, without fear and prejudice, and well, why not ~ there is much to be gleaned in these spaces.
Powerful writing. The medallion pictured reminds me of the face of the Hindu deity Lord Jaganath, the Sun God, who is both life-giving and deeply awe-inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI hate to be caught in a fool's grin!!! Wonderful poem!
ReplyDeleteEven a tarnished coin shines a bit of life in the dark of death's eye socket. And how I love that third stanza, because when her flesh is bleeding, when the dark is hungry, no one fights harder than she who knows that if she falters (too wildly) she can be devoured by sharp teeth... But if she keeps her cool while the flame burns blackest, she might get a moment (or three) of rest in the temporary softness of grinning lips. And then, she battles on... having claimed the grin for herself.
ReplyDelete