Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Verse: Still life

dedicated to FToddwilliams on twitter, who was kind enough to give me a line I was unkind enough to alter:

like a bracelet
a string of opalescent
pools circles the town
still as glass they
are silent witness
to the sun going down

perfectly manicured
emerald lawns
tremulous and whispering
with the wind
the trees rustling
with anticipation
as the evening sets in

heading to the basement
where he often entertains
having told his wife
he'd rather build
his model trains
plagued by the
thousand tiny doubts
that consume his soul
he takes solace in
the one world
that he knows he can control

upstairs she contents herself
with a bottle of merlot
hears the clock
chime in the drawing room
how quick the day does go
recalls three perfect children
forged like diamonds in her womb
each one a distraction
each one left too soon

one by one
like campfires
the streetlights
flicker and flare
the sweet perfume
of barbecue
permeates the air

she recalls him svelte
and limber
a dashing renegade
now grown soft
and poky
his courtesies
all decayed

he recalls her
bronze, smooth legs
her supple lips
her hair
and how her blue
eyes gradually froze
into a chilly stare

the pools
are black as hearses
the grass writhes
serpentine
he plays
with his engine
she pours herself
some wine

now the clouds assemble
but the fireworks are delayed
and in that anxious instant
the rain comes on
like a cavalcade
and the pools
quench their thirst
the lawns
cease to sway
but the rain
cannot assuage his guilt
or wash her regrets away

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