White Christmas baby
Lies asleep in the manger
Of his mother’s arms
Eyes still as the night
You brought him home
Seven years ago.
I’m reminded of the nights
Marching sluggishly through the mountains
Of misfit toys and crayon-crusted drawings
To where the prince and his pea
Lie royally aware
Of some unfathomable disturbance in the universe.
I could hold him for days
Before the searing cries and the crashing sound waves
Would revert back to the serene washings of the shore
That always seemed to come right around daybreak.
But I also remember
The whitewashed, cookie and cocoa mornings
Spent defying gravity by making wings in the snow.
The mauve and maroon stillness of 5 am
Sitting on the beach with grimy bait and dew-covered tackle.
The undeniable, unrelenting urge
To blow bubbles in the dinnertime milk
And to race to the top of the glass
Just to see mom’s face turn bright red
With envy
As she poured her own glass and joined
In the everlasting fountain of wisdom and youth.
Now, it all makes sense.
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I love the mix of pop-culture references ... like that island of misfit toys from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, etc. Nice! Like Chris' poem ... I'm intrigued by the 'motives' in here ... and want to return to the work to unravel it more.
ReplyDeleteI veered away from titling my poem 'Motive' and instead went for a title that set forth a 'reason' ... then the poem clarified it (I hope, grin) ... perhaps a different title?
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I understood the poem better after we talked about it... "now it makes sense" :) haha.
ReplyDeleteThere are three scenes that I liked:
1) "...the prince and his pea
Lie royally aware
Of some unfathomable disturbance in the universe" - I found this really humourous and got a chuckle out of the 'royally unaware'.
2) "The mauve and maroon stillness of 5 am
Sitting on the beach with grimy bait and dew-covered tackle." - For some reason I was immediately transported in my mind to the beach, the purplish red sky in the morning hours and temporarily abandoned fishing equipment. Perhaps I had been there before - nostalgia? It's so descriptive in such few words and I loved it.
3) "blow bubbles in dinner time milk" - to irritate Mom of course! - heartwarming scene! :D
Would it flow better to move the mauve and maroon stillness part up a few verses so that it comes right after serene washing of the shore that comes right after daybreak? These two seemed to be connected in that they talk about the beach and shore. Rather than going from shore to cocoa mornings to snow angels and then back to beach again.
How about: "The mauve and maroon stillness of 5 am
Sitting on the beach with grimy bait and dew-covered tackle.
As I remember
The whitewashed...."