We breathe against the cage bars
I’ll be damned
She babbles
Stirring the words
Like porridge or soup
Ends on pencils
Bows on toes
Did you know in stories
We can fly
Our wings are blue
Fragile
Light
Fixed on the sill
With a small green ribbon
Sometimes adjectives help
You really must improve your stitching
Your edges are frayed
Your hem lines worried
Mother would not be amused
We hang blue in the bedroom
White as a sheet in the lounge
Just like your face
She giggles
My little genetic brainstorm
Knife
Apple
Operating table
I fit the bones together
Jump from the window
Rise from the floor
Ossify
Calcify
Rust
No space to inhale
No key to get out
The air is lead
Muscles red
Fibres thread
Stuck stuck sticky
On the kitchen floor
Tick-tock
Metronome
Drones
Manic
Panic
Dead
We need to find the right story she says
Body twitching
Mind stuck on stitching
Head hot
Pick
Pocked
Wounds
Rot
Hearts too heavy to cherish
We breathe against the cage bars
Did you know in stories
We can fly.
Your pictures are always a treat to see Jae. The words however are sometimes a maze that we must find our way through. Life is sometimes like a cage whose restrictions must be borne so we create our own world so life is made more bearable. As poets this comes easy as we can live in our poetry and as you say "We can fly"!
ReplyDeleteThank you Old Egg - we are a devil for word mazes..can we write ourselves free and fly - i hope so..eventually
DeleteDid you know in stories we can fly... Such a great canvas for the poem...sigh.
ReplyDeleteThank you thotpurge - i think JM Barrie may have painted that canvas first ;)
Delete"My little genetic brainstorm
ReplyDeleteKnife Apple Operating table
I fit the bones together Jump from the window Rise from the floor
Ossify Calcify Rust"
"The air is lead Muscles red Fibres thread
Stuck stuck sticky On the kitchen floor
Tick-tock Metronome Drones
Manic Panic Dead"
Those sections, and the "hearts too heavy to cherish" are my favorite lines.
Thank you very much
DeleteOh so poignant, my friend...."do you know in stories we can fly".......I love "stirring the words like porridge or soup" and "my little genetic brainstorm". I remember being in a cage once....in my case, the door was open but I didnt know how to get out. Eventually, time freed me. Cages are very hard on free spirits, this I know. A beautiful write, and I love the beautiful photo. Did you make that gorgeous thing?
ReplyDeleteThank you Sherry - sometimes open doors, open windows and even the keys can't let you free..one day we hope we hope xo it was a curtain disaster remedied with ribbons and tears and the realisation that I've passed forty without learning how to hem.. If it doesn't involve nails and hammers I'm usually reduced to sobbing in a heap of taffeta
DeleteVery Imaginative.I liked your presentation
ReplyDeleteThank you Anusha
DeleteDid you know in stories
ReplyDeleteWe can fly
Our wings are blue
Fragile
Light
I absolutely adore these lines Jae :D Such a powerful canvass with vibrant colors -your poem- Beautifully expressed!
Lots of love,
Sanaa
I am glad you found colour Sanaa - nice for it to come around once in a while - thank you :)
DeleteAnd that is why we don't need a key...when we see her fly, the arch of her flight, we know in our hearts, we can also fly...and that is why we can't stand cages...we have to be free...you see. A beautiful write!
ReplyDeleteAha so Alice was on a pointless adventure..finding keys..drinking potions - all she needed was to wake up..say this is my dream - and fly - hmm..thank you Annell for showing us where to look xo
Delete"We breathe against the cage bars" could feel the hot breath of the captive souls...shackled forever as it were...but rise they must from the floor in spite of heavy heart and FLY...a beautiful poem Jae...
ReplyDeleteWe must always try however heavy our hearts - thank you kindly Sumana we hope to fly then FLY!
Deleteyou can fly its all in what you let yourself believe.
ReplyDeleteI think that is true for most things - self doubt is the biggest hurdle - thank Sheilagh we hope to meet you up there in the skies!
DeleteIsn't it wonderful that life doesn't depend on the ability to sew? I LOVE this: "Stirring the words
ReplyDeleteLike porridge or soup ..." You stitch story instead, and know its magic ability to give us wings and the absence of cages so we can fly.
Thank you kindly Susan i am glad it is a magic of some kind - and yes there's always another way to put up curtains and hide frayed hems..words are much more important!
DeleteThis is the wonder of poesy. We csn write ourselves the perfect set of bird wings. Not so in the (other) world of reality
ReplyDeleteMuch love...
Absolutely - thank you kindly Gillena
DeleteFlying in a story is overrated. It's more fun to suffer.
ReplyDeleteIn a story - at least in a book you know it's going to end! Thank you (other) Alice
DeleteSuch joy reading your poetry...you have a gift with words and I can tell you have fun as I did reading this.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cheryl-Lynn - yes we enjoy our word play :)
DeleteYes, blue wings....I do picture us humans as having blue wings. But stitching? I hope we don't have to stitch in order to fly! Smiles.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary - some unbreakable wings would be good - maybe stitching is better than wax though - thank you kindly
Delete"You really must improve your stitching
ReplyDeleteYour edges are frayed
Your hem lines worried
Mother would not be amused"....True true! There are reasons for the birds to vent their frustrations!Thank you for this beautiful poem.
And thank you for your beautiful comment Pancahli - yes, even birds must let it all out!
DeleteI wish I could find one or two of those helpful adjectives of which you write...
ReplyDeleteThe can be devilishly elusive and slippery - like a gymnast bending under a pole - thank Magical ;)
DeleteOur wings are blue fragile - yes, I can see blue wings much like a blue butterfly. In stories we can fly, but in our dreams we can soar anywhere we want. Sometimes, we need to open the cage door to get a new perspective. Hopefully with mended wings we can attempt to flutter.
ReplyDeleteI felt the softness of the picture you have chosen.
Flutter..fly..soar..sounds like a good flight path to aim for...thank you kindly Truedessa
DeleteThose repetitive lines carry that confining, restricting feeling of not being as one ought to be. I hope the "stories" come true!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jennifer - that would be a good wish
DeleteWe breathe against the cage bars
ReplyDeleteDid you know in stories
We can fly.
Even if we are stuck and immobilized one can still imagine stories of wonder and keep oneself sane! We certainly have stories to tell Jae!
Hank
Exactly - nothing like the wings of a good story..thank you Hank!
DeleteI love the color play of blue and green in your wings stanza...powerful imagery.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Hannah
Delete