Monday, May 16, 2011

when i refuse the lithium

the angels whisper a cacophony -- unsullied by any elemental metal
i effervesce up up up to blinding sun -- swathed in immortalizing
armor i surge feet pumping a limitless engine immune to flames
licking from joy’s corona -- mad elixirs in my brain swirly
whirly bombard microcosmic synapses dopaminated nerves electrify
crimson corridors connecting muscle to mind

i hurl heavenwards

wings beat down the stalking shadow -- from here nurse is an ant
her entreaties flutter in my maelstrom -- i pause listen consider
the idiocies and the blazing beckoning white -- but bliss melts
blue hot hot hot -- my seraphim falter whistling screams on the
dive bomb their waxen pinons crackle-pop my legs and arms scrabble
in endless air -- nurse chortles at my spiral her teeth a jag
of evil normalcy -- minute orbs roll in her upturned palm

my shrunken incinerated hand hovers

The sun scuttles behind the moon, turning sky to asphalt, sulfurous and lovely.


***

The lovely and wonderous Michelle Elvy is hosting the latest Language - Place Blog Carnival. The theme? Language and place on the edge. My contribution is an experimental poem I wrote two years ago and featured in Eascape Into Life. For what can be more on the edge than riding mania to its polar abyss?

Enjoy the carnival. Peace...

9 comments:

  1. Stunning, Linda. And the music - perfect.

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  2. Stunning indeed! You have such an enormous gift for powerful language Linda, and I thank you Very Much for sharing that with us!

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  3. Beautiful language, stunning is the word! "wings beat down the stalking shadow"

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  4. cold and metallic..you've used clinical precision in evoking a sense of euphoria that accompanies these episodes..grand word choices and execution..i felt as if in a sno-globe.

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  5. This is full of movement, Linda. Love the way it picks you up and carries you with it up to the skies!

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  6. This is the wonderous sort of writing that slows me down, tells me to shut up and pay attention. Thank you for that :)

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  7. Thank you all for reading -- your kind words make me smile. BTW, I didn't write this poem -- a young man named Ben did ;^) He exists, of course, in my imagination and on the pages of a novel in (hopefully) final polish mode. Thanks for dropping by this port of the BlogCarnival. peace...

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  8. i hurl heavenwards...

    so much said in that one line, Linda. This is a ride all the way to the edge. Wonderful and frightening. Amazing. Thank you for being a part of this month's Blog Carnival!

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  9. I second what everyone else has already said. Great use of language here.

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