I wouldn’t call it employment –
rather a mad ploy
to avoid retrenchment
(I’ve been to the trenches…)
The electro-harp wasn’t my first choice
but I’ve my set pieces
(nocturnes preferred)
and we’re all fish under water
in this fog of the euthanasia wing
but the clientele are big tippers
and seemed soothed
in their passing.
A dirge in 55 words for Friday Flash, an ekphrastic poem based on the image supplied by Visual Verse for September.
Anyone wishing to share their 55-worder, please leave a link in comments below.. and let's have a Kick-Ass weekend.
These futuristic myths of yours have got a devilish braininess to them.
ReplyDelete...and we’re all fish under water
in this fog of the euthanasia wing
but the clientele are big tippers
and seemed soothed
in their passing.
Brilliant, that the harper of olde plays nocturnes in the euthanasia ward. I also love it that you write an image based poem without supplying the image. Sorry I have no 55 this week, again. Too many elephants falling.
Dear friend, I am barely holding it together at the moment, so this is my one shout against the darkness of perpetual silence! I am having some interim fun going through my old pieces and posting on Instagram.. It doesn't require much of a thought process.
DeleteAnd, I didn't supply the image because I guess it might be copyrighted... so hope the end result isn't too out there.
Thanks for stopping by.
The first thing I thought when I read this, was, Hm... it tastes of Steampunk(ish) madness kissed by eerie. Then I went to see the image which inspired it, and I grinned like a loon. This is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Magaly... one of my portraits of the not so distant future.
Delete:)
Ooh, this is delicious -- I love how it unfolds, layer by layer, giving a sense of familiarity to a dystopian eventuality.
ReplyDelete"and we’re all fish under water/in this fog of the euthanasia wing": This macabre setting is quite scary, with the subtle politics in it very well carried out.
It's a wonderful piece, Kerry. :-)
I like your response, Anmol. I am very interested in the layers you have unravelled.
DeleteThis could easily be the subject of a Black Mirror episode. Would love to read more, if you choose to build on it, because it is a very interesting premise.
DeleteI love how you handle the theme with a certain deftness.
I've been thinking on this piece/poem 55 for days, and haven't been able to pull up words for a comment - so here goes ...
ReplyDeleteI know of the image because I do the Visual Verse thing too - and even without the picture in my head, I'm just sitting with the weight of the layers here - and the more I'm quiet with it, the more I feel its impact - and I'm loving it! (and it works equally well with the image, which is rather peculiar; but I have to say, I think I like this poem without its companion even more.)
Be well Kerry and I hope you manage to catch your breath soon and feel better for it.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this one. A certain narrative voice enters my head at times - this bitter, yet ingenuous person from a century yet to arrive.
DeleteI liked the quirkiness of this, especially after having a look at the bizarre image this came with. The idea of the 'euthanasia wing' and what goes on there...leaves me intrigued. Were it not a 55-er, I'd have love at least 3 more stanzas! Great job!
ReplyDeletethanks, Viv. Perhaps this will be a springboard for a few more stanzas in time to come. It is a starting point at least.
DeleteThe undercurrent of sadness is strong here. There is something hopeful about the subject finding some fulfillment in plying their art for those in even more desperate straits than they are. The ability to continue to create, even when weighed down by pain, is a balm to the soul.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rommy. I like the perspective you offer on this strange snippet.
DeleteA "labyrinth" appeared as I read your poem. There does seem to be an undercurrent of sadness. Sometimes I am not exactly sure, but after all that is what a poem is, isn't it?
ReplyDeletePoems are born in silence.....
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. A very profound observation, Annell.
DeleteI visited the image. Most intriguing. Your poem reminds me of a not quite nightmare I had last year and that still pops up at times. The layers of sadness here reminds me deeply of the skilled nursing facility my mother died in. All the people in wheelchairs lined up in the hall, chatting or napping. All of them waiting to die,some of them helped along by extra morphine. Poems are born out of not quite nightmares, sometimes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Toni. Yes, as the age expectancy increases such facilities will become more the norm, I believe. I myself might tip a harper handsomely to play me out.
DeleteI love the truth that swims here in your words Kerry! Cool and lovely writing as always!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Carrie.
DeleteOh I missed this during the weekend... so great to be able to catch up. The story in itself draws such a character, and I'm reminded a bit of the Theresienstadt symphony orchestra...
ReplyDeleteI'll have to Youtube that.. thanks, Bjorn.
DeleteLove it. Love the employ to mad ploy and tips are always great!
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing the word play ;-)
DeleteThe Visual Verse image came into my head while reading the poem, even before I read your notes, Kerry. You've captured something in it that I haven't seen in the other poems in this month's anthology. I admire the wordplay on employment/mad ploy and retrenchment/trenches, and the way you dive from the opening lines into the euthanasia wing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kim. I haven't felt much of a response to Visual Verse's images this year but this one shone a little light, inasmuch as I thought: You can write to this one.
DeleteWe play while death takes a seat and waits for our ending. That's how I read it. lol
ReplyDeleteYep! That pretty much sums it up.
DeleteThat is the problem as people are just getting older and are such a nuisance as they interfere with our lives. (Please note, this comment was made by an 82 year old! So don't be cross just play the harp).
ReplyDeleteOne extra special nocturne coming right up.
Deletebeen thinking about this for a few days. something One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, somehow.
ReplyDeletewe're all waiting for the needle ~
... and a swansong.
Delete"and we’re all fish under water/in this fog of the euthanasia wing... that came across to me as a plea to be released from a suffocating greyness....the imagery is so stark and evocative.
ReplyDeleteThank you! One does get the impression that the harpist is just as trapped but not so fortunate as to receive release.
DeleteThat's a 55-word story if I've ever read one. Phreeow.
ReplyDelete