Valentine
-
Because I have learned from you the art of maiming,
I hang my fruit, sectioned and unwhole, in a bowl
of shadows scalped from the deep of unyielding night.
Because I have learned from you the art of leaving,
I prance and strut, stage left and right, sidestepping
the bark of the director's cut. Always, an invisible longing
Because I have learned from you the art of loving,
By association I have learned to maim and leave
a pale moon ring, an onion, a scent that clings to a knife
(like yours)
Because I have learned from you to learn my lessons well,
I carve my lessons in abstract. I write to you a valentine. -
Interesting. A poem of a person who had been in a selfish relationship and loves in return in the same way. Like doing it back to the other.
I suppose it is possible to be hurt like that and end up thinking that's the way things work. -
Thank you for your comment.
I've always believed that when you choose to love someone you forsake a piece of yourself irrevocably.
And somewhere in the process, you begin to take upon the other party's habits like a second skin. Both the good and bad.
I've written a poem on that.. maybe I'll post it. I don't know. -
Here's the poem I'd mentioned about. It's written much much earlier (Valentine was written over lunch today), but it pretty much reflects when I think of this vile conundrum.
I have begun
I have begun to wear your habits like a second skin.
The stars and nightwind are sworn witnesses
to this shadow spectacle: invariably
I gnash my teeth in throes of sleep.
Shredding myself awake, with great familiarity.
I catch myself: (I caught you when
your petulant mouth refuses rest, when
your searching hands turn clammy in my wake.)
Beyond the span of dissolved silence,
do you catch yourself muttering a exaltation
that used to be mine, replicate twin-like
gestures like Gemini in flux?
I've learnt to bury this transference,
my dirty pretty secret. Like an
emollient unguent your essence worms gangrenous
into liverspotted skin; A half-worn lyric,
a half-healed thorn: you're all of them.
I'm afraid (say it!) that you'll never be gone. -
It would explain why some people never see how their partners can be such jerks to others when they are with them, and that they sometimes start acting the same way. So I guess, it might not just be turning a blind eye!
Another clear example would be a man being very possessive and checks his partner by calling every hour, and the woman (although she complains about this at first) starts expecting him to check on her otherwise she becomes insecure. If we look to your poem for the explaination, both would be possessive, since these acts would ensure that each other is watchful of the other. Although the methods are different, they serve the same purpose.
Even if the second skin is not permanent, I think it takes a long time to fall away. -
this is the power of valentine influenceOriginally posted by Bluesky_Liz:Even if the second skin is not permanent, I think it takes a long time to fall away.
-
hi peebrainOriginally posted by peebrain:
I have begunI have begun to wear your habits like a second skin.
The stars and nightwind are sworn witnesses
to this shadow spectacle: invariably
I gnash my teeth in throes of sleep.
Shredding myself awake, with great familiarity.
I catch myself: (I caught you when
your petulant mouth refuses rest, when
your searching hands turn clammy in my wake.)
Beyond the span of dissolved silence,
do you catch yourself muttering a exaltation
that used to be mine, replicate twin-like
gestures like Gemini in flux?
I've learnt to bury this transference,
my dirty pretty secret. Like an
emollient unguent your essence worms gangrenous
into liverspotted skin; A half-worn lyric,
a half-healed thorn: you're all of them.
I'm afraid (say it!) that you'll never be gone.
correct me if i'm wrong. i've come out with way-out interpretations before.
you have a poem here about a relationship that has soured. The relationship has developed (or degraded) into just a physical one.
i like the last stanza, it's pretty angry, dark and sums up the mood of the poem. -
Hey dsnake1, not that your interpretation isn't valid -- it is about a relationship that has soured, that is no longer in existence.Originally posted by dsnake1:hi peebrain
correct me if i'm wrong. i've come out with way-out interpretations before.
you have a poem here about a relationship that has soured. The relationship has developed (or degraded) into just a physical one.
i like the last stanza, it's pretty angry, dark and sums up the mood of the poem.
The persona of the poem is trying to get over the lost love, but he is finding it an excruciating struggle as he/she has retained the transference that occurs during the relationship -- saying the things that the other party once said, catching himself expressing the same mannerisms et al.
These are the metaphysical things that are harder to get rid of than, say physical property -- as such, they linger in the heart like half-healed thorns -- although you try to ignore them, they're still very much in existence. -
beautiful.Originally posted by peebrain:Hey dsnake1, not that your interpretation isn't valid -- it is about a relationship that has soured, that is no longer in existence.
The persona of the poem is trying to get over the lost love, but he is finding it an excruciating struggle as he/she has retained the transference that occurs during the relationship -- saying the things that the other party once said, catching himself expressing the same mannerisms et al.
These are the metaphysical things that are harder to get rid of than, say physical property -- as such, they linger in the heart like half-healed thorns -- although you try to ignore them, they're still very much in existence.
I can empathize with this feeling...you want to forget yet the memories linger on and haunt your waking hours. -
peebrain,
thanks for enlightening me. i'm not that off target after all.
now i know why you wrote : " wear your habits like a second skin. ".
i think it is a very good poem.
-
Thank you
I don't post here often (for extenuating reasons)-- but if you don't mind wading through all that verbal diarrhea, more stuff is available at my blog. -
yeah, i've been to your blog and there's a lot of stuff to wade through, and i think it's a pretty interesting one. Good to blow off some steam!Originally posted by peebrain:Thank you
I don't post here often (for extenuating reasons)-- but if you don't mind wading through all that verbal diarrhea, more stuff is available at my blog.
btw, have you been to my blog?
-
yes I have -- congrats on QLRS btw.
-
thank you! Seriously, worked very hard on that poem, with lots of feedback from DP and Liz.Originally posted by peebrain:yes I have -- congrats on QLRS btw.