Art by Mike Worrall
Water
rises till the finer things float.
I'm dressed for dinner and drowning.
Rises like bile in my overfed throat.
I'm dressed for funerals and flight.
Thighs
thrash in rain wrecked chiffon,
and heels staccato the landing -
lending pulse to the water's hypoxic hum.
I'm dressed for my last breath tonight.
For Grace's challenge at Real Toads. Also submitted to Poet's United.
For Grace's challenge at Real Toads. Also submitted to Poet's United.
28 comments:
...and the body count at Another Damn Poetry Blog keeps rising!
Any poem that uses "hypoxic" is to be hailed.
if you are going to go out,
might as well go out in style.
Wow, loving that last stanza.
I'm dressed for dinner and drowning.
God, that is all too recognizable a time. Brilliant piece, MZ.
Indeed, why not wear one's finest?
Wowzers! Stellar!
Oh this was a dark piece.. love the two stanzas contrasting...
Excellent mix of the frenetic and the formal, and as always,all built sparingly around a killer concept that kicks out like a mule in that last line.
Besides being brilliantly surreal--a Titanic on land with music playing--this feels prophetic. Polar bears and micro-organisms, dressed to kill, scrambling for viable oxygen (I looked up hypoxic--love that alliteration). And how shocking the staccato sentences, worthy of absurdist playwrights like Albee, Becket, Ionesco. I'm recoiling, impressed.
Terrific writing MZ ~ Dressed in style even for funerals & flight ~
Thanks for participating in Sunday's Challenge ~
Happy week ahead ~
a marvelous surreal poem...I too loved the use of hypoxic... well done...
Brilliant. That's all.
Perfection, MZ, truly enjoyed your words here!!
how, indeed, would we dress, if we knew the time was tonight
I love the last line especially...
I hope I don't take MY last breath tonight. I'm looking mighty sloppy...
I'm dressed for my last breath tonight...If so, I am going out in pajamas...love the poem!!
the same surreal atmosphere of the painting finds a cosy nook in your lines....die in style......oh brilliant...
The concluding lines..............awesome
Brilliantly conceived and executed. What's scary is I think I've been there.
Drowning in chiffon sounds horrible and staccato for once is totally useless, I analyze, but I don't really...I just love 'I'm dressed for my last breath tonight'
Nothing like a black party dress to go with extinction's rising flood. The going -- and the verses -- are impeccable. - Brendan
yes, bonus points for hypoxic!
I too love hypoxic!
The last line is killer~
Well done
powerful!!!
a dark beauty.
"I'm dressed for my last breath tonight."
KILLER ending! love your take on the image, MZ!
♥
d
reading you is like taking a hit of straight oxygen, MZ - a jolt, feeling buzzed but clear-headed at the same time - every time. ~
I really enjoyed reading this. The words are rich, the imagery even richer. Great job :-)
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