They clip the rooster's wings
In the car park
Is that an anachronism or anomaly
Hmm
Both maybe
She swings her legs
Drinks the sweet sweet
Her socks have changed
From white to brown
Too many years on the shelf
We think together
Sins burnt
Like bad paint
Into the creases of our skin
I think we should go down
Collect his feathers
Keep them safe
Perhaps one day he will need them
To spread his wings and fly away
She is a kind girl
Underneath
My little unmarked friend
My chest bursts
Lungs rattle
Like fists pounding
On the cage door of my ribs
I don't trouble her
I don’t trouble anyone
Wrapped up viciously in the afternoon sun
Catching consonants through the window
As if words can help me
Out
Out
I find it hard now
Down
Stream
Line
Born
Die
Raid the pantry
Scheme
For sugar and pies
Fear lures me
In
Inn
Sing
You liked the donkey and the palm fronds
She is busy
I can tell
But she smiles
Her bestest smile from the top shelf
I wonder why she sits up there
Because I am your rooster she giggles
Although you never clipped my wings
Thank you
She says
Jumping down
Besides you put me there
Remember
I touch my face
Trying to
If one fact creeps in
My head will flood
What you do is really quite mad
Madder than hatter
She squeals
A wonderland past extreme
The trees live in the windows
Your failing smile
Dropping like leaves
The light bulb swings
There is peace in the ticking
I let her out to play
She wraps tinsel in the alley
It won't take the smell of piss away
I know
But a girl must always try to make pretty
Didn’t your mummy teach you that
My mummy taught me
Run
Hide
Warn
Then we will be here forever
The cock crows half past crazy
We look at each other and laugh.
There is a real sense of something sinister lurking in the shadows here; tinsel and feathers on top but...
ReplyDeleteYep..it's a cheap disguise...no flies on you J Cosmo - thank you kindly for that
DeleteOne thing about your adventures with Alice is that you take your reader into uncharted territories to experience a completely new way of looking at life. For all the grim sadness you still brighten the readers mind with your humour. Well that is what visiting you is like for me especially when the two of you laugh at adversity.
ReplyDeleteThank you Old Egg - I am glad you see humour - as the saying goes if we didn't laugh we'd cry - well we do that too sometimes but at least we giggle in words - thank you kindly...
DeleteTinsel in the alley.. Love the contrast between glitz and piss.. and the image of the rooster's wings is disturbing - really.
ReplyDeleteThank you Bjorn - and it actually happened - someone kept a cockerel in the boot of their car.. i got up, had breakfast and heard a rooster crowing and thought - i am normally sober at breakfast what's happening - two hours later someone came...inspected said bird..handed over cash, tucked it in his jacket, clipped the wings and headed off..no wonder we are going crazy here!
Delete"Your failing smile / Dropping like leaves"...ah this tugs at the heartstrings...
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly Sumana ..
DeleteWe all need wings to fly and hopefully we can find them... Even if only for a few minutes before half past crazy.
ReplyDeleteThank you thotpurge - and i love that in some small way our poems may have crossed paths on that front today
Deletea marvellous adventure through your wonderland of imaginitive lines - mixing religious metaphors of nativity and denial - loved the tinsel in the pissing alley and the opening lines especially
ReplyDeleteThank you so much telltale!
DeleteIf one fact creeps in
ReplyDeleteMy head will flood
This is so true.. we are often overwhelmed with what goes on in our head.. a single disturbing fact can serve to act as a flood. Fortunately, we have our ways to cope. Wishing you merry Christmas and a happy new year :D
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Thank you very much Sanaa - and a peaceful Christmas and happy new year to you also xo
DeleteThe cock crows half past crazy.
ReplyDeleteOh my word, I've been there!! ;-)
Thank you very much Brenda :) perhaps the best of us have been there!
DeleteI am sure she is a 'kind girl underneath,' but sometimes it is hard to be kind if 'fear lures' a person. I understand the 'run, hide, warn.' Sometimes the run is most important. Have a happy holiday, Jae! And a bright new year.
ReplyDeleteYes run - but don't look back - thank you kindly Mary and a peaceful holiday and new year to you also thank you
DeleteGive Alice a hug for me. She's made it through another year in this half past crazy world we inhabit. Running is better than trying to fly with clipped wings, as long as one remembers that, most times, we drag the tinsel and piss right along with us. My holiday wish for both of you is for peace that lingers for much longer than a moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you Elizabeth - we very much appreciate that wish and your comment made me smile...it is good to know I didn't get through another year alone and that there are people who know and have moved away from the tinsel and the piss
DeleteFor the life of me, I cannot remember one mad thing the Hatter did! Was it his words? "anachronism or anomaly" your narrator throws out as the roosters wings are clipped and feathers decorate the alley--vowels and consonants! Words do help--too much at times, when they quickly categorize so we don't have to feel. I love the shelves with Alice on top like a star on top of the tree. A decoration, but oh, so much more. Well do we laugh together as a form of survival when no one can hear the truths! Sobering thought, but put into songs they raise joy.
ReplyDeleteAnd so this week some celebrate the birth of Jesus, which to me is also the idea that a body--not just words and spirit--is needed to communicate between humanity and God, to embody God, to teach how we each contain and reveal God. I don't know what you celebrate, but I wish you JOY!
I doubt Hatter could remember what he did or said either! Largely he slumped over the tea party table and wore a top hat with 10/6 on it...words certainly do help - maybe that's what I celebrate - and all the kind and generous people who take time to read them..wishing you a peaceful Christmas thank you Susan
DeleteI celebrate you, too!
Deletethank you!
DeleteOh the madness life can bring...but she is a kind girl underneath...that cannot be hidden even behind the windows. I have been behind those windows....so i give you many big hugs to both you and Alice. Wishing you smiles and love and peace on this holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteDonna@LivingFromHappiness
Thank you for understanding what those windows mean Donna - and for offering hope of being on the other side of them...thank you and also best wishes back to you let's hope 2016 shines..
DeleteA veritable tour de force Jae - fresh and lyrical throughout - saying so much too and coping with the bitterness of life in such a balanced and knowing way too... Lots to love here -
ReplyDelete"Sins burnt
Like bad paint
Into the creases of our skin" my favourite passage and how I also liked:
"She is a kind girl
Underneath
My little unmarked friend" A delight to read this evening - thanks so much for being you and writing so... With Best Wishes Scott
Thank you very much Scott - I'm not sure many people would thank me for being me if they had to be trapped in here with me (sorry Alice!) but it's greatly appreciated and it's good to know at least our words are balanced...thank you kindly
DeleteWell, poor rooster, for starters. Life is just that random, for a rooster, I imagine. I really got a lot from this poem. Loved it. I LOVE the humor in "a girl must always try to make pretty." LOL. Sad, what mummy taught. I love the laughter at "the cock crows at half past crazy." I think Alice is trying to teach us all about happiness, in the midst of everything else. Have a peaceful week, my friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sherry - she surprises me with her efforts to decorate the somewhat gloomy world we occupy that is very far from wonderland...or maybe it's the same and we make the best of a bad deal and figure our way out of the story..hmm...I think life is random rooster or human at times! Glad you enjoyed thank you kindly and a peaceful week back to you xo
Deletecatching consonants, wow! somewhere along the journey of a-e-i-o-u; there is the hankering for companionship; how human is Alice and u
ReplyDeleteSEASONS GREETINGS
much love...
Question is which one is more human! Thank you Gillena
DeleteThere is a lot here to digest...clipping any birds wings cannot be a good thing. Grounding those who need to fly. This part stood out for me as life sometimes can turn crazy and we add layers to our being to help us cope but, underneath the skin and bones the inner child is still alive.
ReplyDeleteShe is a kind girl
Underneath
My little unmarked friend
wishing you both peace...
Well you found the truth (I hope it still applies at least) thank you for that Truedessa.. And some peace would be much welcome..thank you
DeleteWhat I have really come to admire about your poetry is its ability to work with numerous threads of narrative, and somehow weave these together in a complex poem, with many parts and pieces. It's like listening in on a conversation you can't quite hear. I love this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for so clearly explaining what it is I 'do' (I've never quite figured it out) all I know is my head is a busy place and what comes out comes out! Thank you kindly for glueing it all together Matthew
Deletewow...I'm going to have to read that again. loved the rhythm it made in my head; sitting, then running, then walking...faster and slower, until it skipped to an ending. very interesting indeed.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought of the speed dial - but glad we departed with a skip! Thank you very much mama
DeleteClipping those wings - too often society does that to us, to those of us who dare to fly higher and faster. As a teen, a group of us called it crazy thirty and sometimes, crazy o'clock as to what time our reality was. Poor rooster. I feel for him, really truly. I came into this conversation at about crazy:45 so I've had some catching up to (try to) catch up on.
ReplyDeleteWe are glad you came - i think crazy accommodates all hours! I think sometimes (if we are not smart enough to keep flying) we may take over from society and clip our own wings...time to confiscate those scissors! Thank you kindly Toni
DeleteThanks for the reminder that there is a kind girl underneath those brown socks! Actually I never doubted it. A delightful romp as ever Jae.
ReplyDeleteThank you most delightfully Keith
DeleteThat last stanza nails it!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Brother Ollie
DeleteLoving it, Jae. I wouldn't want to be her or any of the other characters here.
ReplyDeleteThe first major segment reminded me of the ZZ Top song, 'Legs'. It goes, lyrics:
"She's got legs, she knows how to use them / She never begs, she knows how to choose them / She's holdin' legs, wonderin' how to feel them / Would you get behind them if you could only find them?… ". Full lyrics on Google Play
Neat poem all the way. Thank you.
..
Thank you too Jim - and very wise not to want to be anyone here!
ReplyDeleteAnother great one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting. My poem could have been from being shut inside from weather. I just used their words.
Thank you Gail - being warm and snug inside is good too!
DeleteAs always your poem is filled with stunning lines. I like 'half past crazy". I think we're all like that at some point. I also like the ending laughter. Many of the lines make me pause and think about the inner, subliminal meaning.
ReplyDeleteHave a Merry Christmas Jae.
Thank kindly Myrna - a peaceful Christmas to you also
DeleteA great read!
ReplyDeleteWish you a very Merry Christmas, Jae :)
Thank you very much Purba - and a merry christmas back to you :)
DeleteLoved many lines...'Catching consonants through the window' - one of them, esp. as I always catching vowels...smiles. Idea of decorating our world the way it is right now! - what a great idea...even clipped
ReplyDeletehis feather - decoration, wow! what a symbol! ~ so, it's feels right when 'they' say: just being here - we're present to others.
Let's celebrate us! Cheers and hugs as always! :)
Yes celebrating our ourselves and catching words is a good place to start - thank you kindly humbird - as always :)
Deletean interesting meander through a variety of images and thoughts, with a mixture of tempo. Some great lines in this, I particularly liked "Wrapped up viciously in the afternoon sun
ReplyDeleteCatching consonants through the window"
Thank you very much OT
Deletei like what your mummy taught : "run, hide, warn" :)
ReplyDeleteWishing you (and Alice too) a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank you very much ds - in a back handed kind of way it proved useful! Thank you for stopping by this Christmas Day and many best wishes back to you :)
DeleteHi kiddo, can't believe it, but I got a tablet for xmas. Steep learning curve, so far no email or Facebook but having fun exploring. Home tomorrow night. Hope you had a good day.
ReplyDeleteHi Sherry - thank you for the Christmas hello - hope you are ok...glad you got a tablet to play around on...you'll love it! j xo
Delete