behind the fridge there are hidden words

44 posts1, 2, 3
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Varnished Souls

all three previous poems (1.0&1&2) are part of this combined poem. The titles and italics form a whole, but can also be read separately.

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Venus


Spoiler
varnished souls
what do you smell
she wears her shadows like perfume
coying, with flair, it burns when you come near.
raw, pretty wine on torched flesh.
the chaos she hides. for her shadows smell like smoke
and she can’t swallow all things that she chokes on.

no one asks why


varnish
she’s porcelain now. painting wet obsidian dark
on cracked skin. ornamental, those lines that cover
her waist. but how far forgotten does that go.
she keeps lighting things



inhale. exhale.
she in love with the noxious
but the noxious don’t love her back.

just lives in her lungs,
breathin’ old names in morse.
swirls on her tongue,
sweet before it festers.
she calls it coping
deep in the ghosts of souls.
huh- blow out the smoke,
cause it calls her carcass.

that never stay warm.

“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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poetry in motion (written in dramatised theatrical form)


SEÑORITA.-- What a lovely town this has grown to be.

VENDEDORA.-- Such a lovely town, indeed. Come sit, Sweet. The flowers that wilted away, came back to walk this place. We live on a stage, the props left their hats on the chair, they won’t be going back home.

SEÑORITA.-- What a life it is. (Hums.) A midnight sun of beauty, burning bright. (To herself.) Burnt at the bones, because of a fire I know of, but still... Bewitching. The flowers drink blood, they live on a ground shrouded in things seen -- never spoken aloud, pressed in a sealed box. Sucesos that sit with their faces to the wall, never to be noticed; painted over with new paint, old paint in their mouths.

VENDEDORA.-- Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, Sweet. How, it fits since there was a fire here. (Sighs.) Much that left this town stained, though still happily ever in an after we imagine. There, (Points to a dull piece of blackness.) at that old barn, you see.

SEÑORITA.-- (Looks in the direction the Vendedora points to.)

VENDEDORA.-- A castle or a barn, what difference do the dragonflies make of sand molecules. (Sighs.) A fire and a death. At your behest, Sweet, I speak of it.

SEÑORITA.-- (Gasps upon hearing of the death.)

Turn to: Clocks tick on, lights fade, worlds tremble.

SEÑORITA.-- A death? (To herself.) No. We didn’t. No deaths left on the doorstep. No blood, no blame. That’s how we left it. That’s how it went.

(Silence. Hear the wind try to move, with its toes on the sand, silently and quietly. How it fails, miserably.)

VENDEDORA.-- Yes, Sweet. A fire captured someone in its whole. What a tragedy. Don’t cry his name out loud, don’t stand in one place, don’t throw yourself over that chair. It’s alright. It’s OK. I haven’t the slightest idea of how tall he stood or how grey his beard, but I’m not sure if you knew him, my dear.

SEÑORITA.-- (Silence. It stretches, betwixt the ash and smoke left behind.) (To herself.) Deaths left on the doorstep. Blood and blame. That’s not how we left it. That’s not how it should have gone.

TELÓN


The fire in the town & Mr Red's disappearance
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Jupiter. Mars
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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cykas: what did they do?
Venus. Jupiter
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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cykas: Who died?
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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The Circle
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Oh lots of fun and creative pieces! I can tell there's a whole world of work behind some of these! I think my favorite poem of yours so far here is "inhale, exhale" - a great metaphor for dealing with something toxic, and the formatting paired very nicely with the concept of breathing and the content in general. Great plays with form throughout! Looking forward to reading more!
you should know i am a time traveler &
there is no season as achingly temporary as now
but i have promised to return




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So.

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Mars' blazer
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Spoiler
<3 why, thank you @alliyah!! There's definitely a strange little world growing behind them. Happy to hear that piece stood out to you!
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Past: 'this place' (town); home; the fire
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Past: Earth
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Past: The Circle, the game of the damned, this place
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Past: The Circle, the game of the damned, 'the realisation'

this poem blends words from a few different languages.


Roughly translated version
Spoiler
i am a bird
Voilà. I will be a bird with
wings in the sky. Soon, I will
be that. But the air is full of molecules that
can freeze.
I’ll be a bird that lives in a jar of honey then.
Sweet is the honey, like the things we promised.
Caring is the honey, that keeps us safe.
Glue is the honey, it traps us and it won’t let go.

So voilà, voilà. I am a bird,
and the game is the honey.
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket




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Spoiler
These poems are fascinating, Roxanne!

So.
> The repetition of "So . . . " gives an interesting rhythm to the piece. It makes me imagine the "I" and the "you" regularly have conversations where there are things clearly not said, just lurking beneath the surface of their words . . .
> "you dream in ink and sirens, now" is such a good line. For me it brings to mind the image of an ocean made of collaged newspapers, maybe clipping related to whatever secret knowledge the "you" has.

jumping rope in the garden
> The last two lines of this are mysterious and memorable. It's making me think maybe something more innocent got left behind in the "game" when it started being about roots drowning and houses being on fire?

Jam on toast/ by the lake
> The intense poetic voice that has appeared in this thread seems particularly strong in this poem. It feels like someone who is jaded and suspicious, recounting somebody with a dangerous influence in their life. (someone with a "knife" and "invective")

ave est i
> Before reading the translation I def noticed the repetition of "miel" and "la miel".
> I really like the idea of air 'freezing' into honey, a thick and viscous suspension. It conveys the idea of being trapped in a "game" in an unsettling way, like it's not just a cage but something more all-encompassing - and also "sweet" on the surface-level, so perhaps deceptive.

Wonderful poems - keep writing!
she/her




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Jupiter. 'was it there before, or just more present after the game?'
“It is always sad when someone leaves home, unless they are simply going around the corner and will return in a few minutes with ice cream sandwiches.”
- Lemony Snicket



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