Diamond Mouth
So, once again, I didn't have time to post yesterday's fairy tale poem, though I did write it so I'm still in it to win it! I have posted yesterday's and today's poem here. Sorry if it's all wonky today, I have had a very strange sleeping streak, so I don't know if I'm making any sense.
Also, I am going to try and get some illustrations up tomorrow, since you all seemed to like them. Any requests?
The first poem is a "mirror" form which has the following structure: ABC/DEF/GHI/IHG/FED/BAC. Pretty neat, I thought. Of course, who better to have as the star of a Mirror poem but our favorite witchy?
--
A Mirror Should Be Charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder
Do I please you, with my speckling eyes? Am I fair?
Is that why you mirror me and mimic my goatish dance?
Together, we are russet and fragrant like cardamom.
*
In you, I am liqueur sweet, sweeter than chance,
and if I could, I would unravel my own skin
and bathe in ivory, in your ivory, and suck apple lips,
*
suck the poison out, if you asked me to, I would press
and press until bones snapped and wrinkles withered,
Oh, I would die, I would witch and crone,
*
Oh, I would die, I would witch and crone,
and press until bones snapped and wrinkles withered,
suck the poison out, if you asked me to, I would press
*
and bathe in ivory, in your ivory, and suck apple lips,
and if I could, I would unravel my own skin
In you, I am liqueur sweet, sweeter than chance,
*
Together, we are russet and fragrant like cardamom.
Is that why you mirror me and mimic my goatish dance?
Do I please you, with my speckling eyes? Am I fair?
--
And today's poem is about a fairy tale my great Cinderella expert introduced me to, called Diamonds and Toads. In it, there's a wicked stepmother, an ugly stepsister, and of course, the innocent girl. So, you get the set up. Well, one day, our innocent girl is minding her own business by the well and an old woman approaches, asking for water. The girl complies, draws up water for her, and after the old woman drinks, she becomes a beautiful fairy. She blesses the girl. Every time the girl speaks, diamonds and pearls and flowers will flow from her mouth.
Well, she runs home to tell step-mommy this, and of course, as she does, gemstones and blossoms litter the floor (of course, she marries a prince). Stepmom sends her own mean daughter with instructions to be kind to an old farty woman. She goes, waits around by the well, and a beautiful woman approaches her, asking for water. She refuses and insults her. Of course, it's the damn fairy, and she curses the girl: every time the stepsister speaks, snakes and toads will fall from her mouth. PRETTY AWFUL, YES? Anyway, this was so wonderfully strange that I couldn't help but poem it (that's right, it's a verb lol).
--
Diamond Mouth
The burn of pearls
is raw, ripped and earned
pulled free of the throat
at the beckoning, the trembling
of sound, of syllables, of words.
*
The cut of blood speckled
diamonds is the deepest,
inflamed by the waxy petals
of calla lilies, posies, pansies,
crocuses, irises, daffodils,
blossoms I don't have names
*
for, and even if I did, I would never
speak them, I would never flavor
their sound, the gentleness
that comes with naming.
Do you know, I've never spoken
*
since I met my husband, the prince
who seemed so handsome, so earnest
in his amazement when I called out
at his white marvelous horse
and a whole necklace worth of gems
*
slithered past my tongue?
No matter how hard he can bruise
and cut, my lips stay shut,
as if sewed, as if severed and burned.
He thought I was worth a kingdom,
*
what woman wouldn't talk, he thought,
what woman wouldn't want to yak
it up like a royal queenie? What woman
would not want to vomit
her worth, would not want to suffer
for every expression?
---
:)
Well, I hope you all enjoyed today's batch. As always, always, any requests?
