Recovery Mission
.
We have been washing and anointing
The corpse of our love.
We have been braiding her hair.
We have placed coins on her eyes.
We have folded her hands
Over her chest
As if she died in tranquility.
.
I am hoarse with epithets
I do not remember. You
Sit back in your suit of silence, a wilting
Funereal lily of an old man.
.
Only moments ago
I bled from my eyes;
You swallowed fire and came at me
Blood of old betrayals
Spewing from your mouth
Hands reaching for my neck.
.
In the aftermath,
Unmasked, we sit until two a.m.
Afraid to move.
If I cut myself open
With the slivers of moonlight
If I fell on a knife to atone
We would still be lost
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Wow, Jenne. Where do I begin? This is so strong and powerful, controlled and moving. Every line takes the poem to that culminating line.
Such strong, felt imagery: “The corpse of our love./We have been braiding her hair.”; “You / Sit back in your suit of silence, a wilting /Funereal lily…” (wonderful!); “Unmasked,…/ Afraid to move.”; “I cut myself open/ With the slivers of moonlight…”
Love the title, too.
Bless you, Lady M– I am so frazzled, working on my collection to submit to contests– cutting and cutting and worrying…. so very heartening to hear that you feel this works~! xxxx will stop by— J
Please visit award-winning, published writer Jenne’ Andrews ‘ new WordPress blog at http://www.loquaciouslyyours.com . Click the “comment” link at the bottom of any post, and sign up to receive an e-mail flash of new content.
Jenne’ Andrews: i remember you from the year my son was born, 1973. I was taking courses at what was Lakewood Community College (now, Century college) whose profs were John Schell and Lloyd Hackl. It may’ve been a conference. I enjoyed your work and your strength and devotion to poetry writing. because of this encounter, i (a lowly freshman) have graduated with an mfa from Hamline University’s MALS program and periodically teaching creative writing creatively. i have been reading your works, here for a while, and was engaged particularly by this poem, Poesia:Recovery and resonated with it in a reality conscious sort of way, (not injuring the beauty of the narrator and everywoman). endearing to the old souls in the narrative and to me by way of the experience and wisdom well-wrought here. My brother, Chuck died recently and was a great loss to me – but i think i am ready to get back up on the “horse” again because of poems like this. regards, libby casey Irwin.
My goodness, Libby– how wonderful to hear from you. Thank you for your kind words, and I’m sorry to learn of your brother’s death. Please do stop back and feel free to share your work– all best– Jenne’