- Non-Erotic Poetry
- Moving From Memory
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Click hereOn Sunday nights
my mother put on high heels,
fake pearls, splashed Arpege,
and left for the Veterans Hospital
to dance with mental patients in the locked ward.
While she lindied and jitterbugged,
I watched Lassie, the Wonderful World of Disney.
one night a man beat his child with a whip,
my father laughed, said he wanted to buy one.
I didn’t protest, felt destined
to star in his dark dreams.
She danced away from us
came back flushed, filled up
with men who waltzed in V.A. pajamas, some
so drugged, their bodies moved only from memory,
happy to touch a woman again.
On Sunday nights
I kept myself awake,waiting to hear
how everyone loved her,
called her the best dancer,
wanted to be her partner,
waited for my mother to unlock the door.
- COMMENTS
kalodinabout 13 years agoI closed my eyes (figuratively) and took the plunge into LIT poetry and yours is what I came up with. Well, you've ruined it for me now. Because all that I read hence will be measured against Moving From Memory and you have set the bar very, very high. What a wonderful poem. Theodore Roethke's My Papa's Waltz popped into my head while reading your piece. Different milieu to be sure but the cadence, language and sentence structure struck me as akin. I am a lazy, erstwhile poetry fan and no expert in any sense. But M From M was a real treat. I'm saving it. If you've not done you should really consider submitting for publication in one or another poetry periodical. Regards, Kal
ishtatover 17 years agoThe images in this poem came across (to me) in monochrome.Potent stuff, more please.
LeBrozover 17 years agoThe world whose veneer
Survived by self-induced blindness
And those who can see
See life's horror unbiden.
Bill Dadaover 17 years agoA very dark vision spoken in the language of Mayberry. The artificial light of the language makes the vision even darker.
BD
Ancient117331over 17 years agoMost seem to want a sort of 'closure' to memories. As for
myself, I regard their continuity as worth worth the
remembering. The sense of and behind my own - darknesses -
enables a personal insight I couldn't have if I let them go.
I like your clarity and 'in-sight'... and I understand
more than you might imagine. Thank you hon.
