The Artists' Honeymoon

In Bed The Kiss, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892
 
We rest, rung. On everything, a slight
blur. Parisian. Post-coital.
Like Sleeping Beauty in reverse
we kiss, then fall into deep sleep.

Next day, we eat the city. Then
we rest, run. Gone. Very thin gaslight
makes cities of our bodies.
We’re natives and we’re newcomers.

We kiss one morning, and the sun
goes down. In the dark parlor where
we restrung one very thin gaslight,
we conjoin at the window.

The whole world seems underwater:
how seas support our own wet weights,
and how all our souls, wild as thoughts,
were strung on everything as light.

Comments

  1. Marie ElenaMarch 9, 2012 at 4:58 PM

    Oh-so-evocative! I could never, ever write like this, and admire your work so much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP)March 9, 2012 at 7:20 PM

    Lush - gorgeous - sensuous images - a honeymoon for your readers! Bravo !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr. Pearl Ketover Prilik (PKP)March 9, 2012 at 7:21 PM

      I am not a robot and I AM NOT AN ALARMED TRIANGLE - despite current appearance to the contrary :)

      Delete
    2. Marie ElenaMarch 10, 2012 at 10:27 AM

      "Alarmed triangle" *gigglegiggle* Great description! :D

      Delete
  3. AlisonMarch 9, 2012 at 9:42 PM

    this is great, daniel! I love it!!

    Alison

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. imunuriMarch 26, 2012 at 2:56 PM

      I wanted to point out the wordplay here because I think it may get lost in the imagery of the poem. I worked hard to make the wordplay work-—which is to say play.

      In a quatern, lines 1, 6, 11 and 16 are the same, or comprise the same words. In this case, they comprise the same sequence of letters:

      We rest, rung. On everything, a slight
      we rest, run. Gone. Very thin gaslight
      we restrung one very thin gaslight,
      were strung on everything as light.

      The quatern form dictates eight syllables per line, but some of these versions of the refrain line ran to nine syllables, so you may notice that the lines following them have been shortened to seven.

      Delete

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