New Theme: "Motive" (2/26/10)

Hey guys!
Your theme for this week's poem is "motive"!
Please submit poems by next Friday, March 5.

Bonne chance! (Good luck!)

"Raw" by Robert Bruce

[[Raw]]

Emotions.

Cracked and crumbled.

Whisked and battered till the tender, oozing yellow yolk of the situation

Becomes too easily miscible in the white bed sheets we once slept in.

You can’t escape them.

Then watch them poured out and sizzled slowly

Under the scorching scrutiny of the blazing sun

So everyone can see just how raw they are.

I remember too well the mornings

When even the charcoal gray of a forlorn dawn

Would give way to the sweet, succulent scent

Of a fresh, brisk sunrise.

Your attempts at culinary counterfeit were flattering,

Countless shells banished to failed dreams of life,

Gallons of bright orange radiance lost to the cracks of the earth,

All for the name of

An elaborate arousal.

But it was that minty fresh aftertaste

That only a chef extraordinaire could perfect,

Driving even the most refined palette wild.

The timbrel and lyre from the lip-smacking richness

Would make even the singing bluebird jealous, yielding

Only to the crashing reality

That the sun sprinting eastward meant another day had come,

Conspiring to drive us apart.

But we managed to keep our secret.

That brief embrace made every burnt piece of toast

And every stubbed toe while wildly searching for the bathroom

Worth it.

And yet, Helios is a jealous man.

You couldn’t understand the ground we had broken

By stealing the morning back from the gods,

Complaining I was only tossing you the tablescraps.

So here I stand over cracked porcelain

And reflections from heartless, blackened steel

Trying desperately to cover up

The hunger of emotions that you exposed.

But you killed the Golden Goose

When you walked out the door.

So now all I’ve got left are these

Emotions.

'Raw' Poem

RAW
by Eric Machan Howd

The heart
is always
tender,

always rare;
it breaks
and heals,

breaks
and heals,
becoming

tougher
with each
beating.

Why
protect
it?

behind rib
cage
and cartilage?

Why toughen
outward
demeanor

to hide
inward
pain? Pretend?

Why not
eat the
heart

as the
Inuits do?
Use ulu knife

to free
muscle
from chest,

bite into hot,
iron-tinged
gushing flesh,

roll our eyes
into head,
as sharks do,

wild ecstasy,
wild orgasm,
to bring

everything
back to blood,
to survival.

new theme: raw

The closing date to submit a poem for this theme will be 19 Feb 2010. Plenty of time to gather food for thought ;)

Welcome!

Dear Poetry-Loving Friends,

Welcome to our world! Grab a cup of your favourite drink and take a seat. We hope you will enjoy reading the poems, perhaps even consider joining us and write something yourself! To join, please send me an email at tanchristine83 at gmail dot com

This poetry project first started through a fortnightly poetry exchange between Eric Howd, Rob Bruce and myself - members of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry community at Cornell University. We found out (quite randomly) through church about our mutual interest in poetry and decided to "self-assemble". This poetry exchange has been a fun way to explore different themes, to enjoy each others' unique perspectives on the same theme, as well as to write regularly.

The rules are simple:
1) We take turns coming up with a theme and tell everyone on Friday;
2) We have one week to write a poem on this theme;
3) We release our poems to the group on the following Friday;
4) We give each other comments and suggestions in the meantime, until the next Friday when we start over again.
5) And most importantly, we have lots of fun! :D