Inside shook and echoed
with the roar of a left foot lion.
Outside
was a jungle with no king.
Bottom land and pasture -
barbed wired, but barely captured.
Blackjacks growing
nearly wild as me.
Down by the creek, I'd dream
up dragons from the stars
and feed them
my weakness and fear.
By the storm split tree, I'd scream at things
for being what they are
for a cicada girl
in her 13th year.
A bit of Cadence in Free Verse for Play It Again at Real Toads.
Also submitted to Poetry Pantry
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
About Me
- Maude Lynn
- Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. ---Flannery O'Connor
28 comments:
Your free verse always stands out for me as being most musical and it always touches emotional chords. This description of a young girl's view of the world is very touching.
Inner and outer landscape both ordinary and particular, made by your talent for poetry into something poignant and personal. I love when you write about things like this.
Yes a so agree - inner and outer landscape brought so skilfully to bear here... Great Stuff!
This touches a chord in me MZ--I might have been that girl
a poignant write, free fierce and honest
much love...
for a cicada girl
in her 13th year.
just wow
Loved this! Excellent write :D
'cicada girl in her 13th years' conjures up much imagery!
Ah, yes, MZ, I've been there, done that and no one says it better than you! Thank you, as always, for sharing!!
There is such music here....and powerful emotions feeling that cicada girl....13 such a memorable year moving from girl to woman.....your poems are always such a powerful write Mama Zen!
Wow...goosebumps!! I love your third and closing stanzas...and the rest too of course.
I can see that "cicada girl in her thirteenth year." If you wrote the memoir, kiddo, I'd buy it.
Dear Cicada Girl,
The hotter it gets,
the louder you sing.
xo,
Hurricane Child
the transition phase is always beautiful - like the reveal on your last stanza
love the idea of feeding fears to dragons. this is super!
This is just a true picture of adolescent. So powerful and full that tumultuous emotion that is that time. I think we both lucky to live it in the country.
teen age angst so powerfully rendered...
You so captured this form~ I am smitten with the cicada girl and the Blackjacks growing!
Luvverly! For a few minutes, I was her.
Mama Z. this one really resonates with me. And I love your fresh images.
Ah, thirteen. That time of transition and transformation. You captured it well,
Elizabeth
Both a captivating title and poem..lost in the jungle of adolescence - i would not like that again..it is bad enough when you're older
no matter the era that cicada girl has to have her moment in the jungle (to roar) doesn't she? Fantastic MZ
Agree with Kerry--this is wonderfully musical--almost like an Emmy Lou Harris song, but more developed and subtle--very well done, Cicada Girl especially cool. k.
Great poem on growing up.
a cicada girl
in her 13th year....love that line. So much noise at 13.
left foot - disbelieving? So this young girl rallied and her screaming (and crying I suppose) likened to that of a Cicada's life cycle is so awesome. I picture this scrap of a girl making her way through the dangerous barbed wire with ease... as she knows the way by heart to her "sacred" place. Beautiful write.
Bottom land makes me think of Toni Morrison's novels, maybe it was Sula, or Beloved, where the Bottom was the top of the hill, where poor people lived, until the rich decided they wanted that spot, and so took it... ~
Post a Comment