MySpace

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This means you may reproduce this work, so long as you credit the author, but not for commercial purposes, and so long as the work is not in any way altered.

For those of you so inclined, I maintain a complete mirror of this blog at Blogger: http://poetry-of-zahhar.blogspot.com/. What's useful about this site is having the ability to organize posts by keyword. So groups of posts there can be read in relation to their shared associations.



Zahhar

Erin Thomas


Last Updated: 11/17/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

Who Gives Kudos:


March 25, 2009 - Wednesday 

Current mood:anxiously mellow
Category: Writing and Poetry


  I'm trying to learn what I've half forgotten, how to bring moments of thought--imaginary or reflective--to life through imagery in words. But with all the insights I've gained since before forgetting, I find now that I want to try out strange oblique angles. No, this isn't about me, nor anyone I think I know. But it is about someone. It's definitely about someone:


Sunday morning


He drove home a bright blond
kiss still glowing warm
on his five o clock shadow
The sun breeze speckled a golden fan
from across the horizon to the white
picket edge of the pacific
coast highway

At the end of his curvy driveway
he swept into his arms the blushing
gaze of a long white gown
laughing light amber bubbles lightly
carried across the cream canyon
threshold where orange shades of sunset
played on the lintel

All night long he wrinkled satin sheets
with passion promise and wild prose
warbled up from his songbird heart
until stars melted away
stirred in milk and coffee snug
in the arms of a long and phoneless
Sunday morning sleep


But that was then now far
at the end of the long dim
hall of yesterday today


He drives home an empty seat
that scrapes at his stiff right arm
demanding he hear the howl
of silence stark beside him and
yanks at the wheel momentary jerks
toward oncoming lights

At home he rattles the chain link weight
of a long black tie over concrete sighs
into moon shadow stillness where
cold kitchen tiles reecho his
every step like white ribs cracked
by the strain of tomorrow

All night long he creases cold gray sheets
with aimless strides across a plush brown carpet
to the moonlit banister where canyon
darkness beckons from the ache
Till finally the stars melt moonless
into strong black coffee stirred
with the acrid taste of final resolution
a bitter brew that will call that distant
Sunday morning back forever



Previous Post: raven song | Back to Blog List | Next Post: Three Ravens
Eusthacia

 
this really appeals to the senses.
well done
 
Posted by Eusthacia on March 25, 2009 - Wednesday - 5:20 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
Glad you enjoyed this. :) I'm going to try to explore this abstract/objective approach for awhile and see where it goes.

 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:44 AM
[Reply to this
alan
alan polson

 
good
 
Posted by alan on March 25, 2009 - Wednesday - 12:01 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
thanks
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:45 AM
[Reply to this
Maggie

 
Well done contrast of then and now from the perspectives of many angles.

 
Posted by Maggie on March 25, 2009 - Wednesday - 5:17 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
It was two juxtaposed images in my mind that inspired the poem. The first with the bride being driven home, and the second with the man driving home an empty car from the funeral. So I tried to develop it in a way that deepened the mystery of the two images rather than flushed them out into full expositions.


Glad you enjoyed, Maggie.
Thanks for the kind words!
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:46 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
And sometimes things change for the better. Perhaps I can play around with this notion for another poem. Sometimes people come from the absolute worst of hells and make alright for themselves. I've known a few. If I can tap the reservoirs of weird memory I might be able to bring something interesting to light.
:)

Thanks for reading, Erin, and for your supportive words!
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:48 AM
[Reply to this
Joy

 
sometimes we should be happy enough that we have such sunday morning to forever look back. because there are so many people who spend their lives forever looking for such sunday to come.




beautiful nostalgia. and beautiful piece nonetheless.




i like easy sunday by the way, not necessarily a long phoneless sleep because i want you in my sunday and that's not quite possible with a long phoneless sunday morning sleep unless you're also having one of your own :).




i like this, particularly the first half. you know i'm not fond of sad images.




but still beautiful... like you as always.

 
Posted by Joy on March 26, 2009 - Thursday - 12:49 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
This is certainly true, Joyjoy. There are many who suffer needlessly throughout their lives without ever knowing for one minute the joy of companionship or love. Yet are they better off for never having known what they were missing? This has been debated throughout history, and the individuals who have experienced the loss I think are split between two camps: Those who would have preferred that they never knew the love they lost; And those who are glad they knew that love despite the pain of that loss. I suppose we can only hope that everyone will experienced those things that will most enrich their lives and least deplete them.


Thanks for reading, commenting, and above all being you, mahal ko.

 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:52 AM
[Reply to this
Randy

 
The work of a mature and clearly superior poet.

 
Posted by Randy on March 27, 2009 - Friday - 10:53 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
Very supportive words Randy! Thank you. :) I'm going to assume that this means you enjoyed my effort at the theme.
:D

Thanks for reading, and for your kindness!
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:54 AM
[Reply to this
John Eagle

 
Sometimes a memory is all we need...well done piece with strong images.

 
Posted by John Eagle on March 27, 2009 - Friday - 12:47 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
And sometimes it's all we are left with.


Thanks, John.
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:55 AM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
I'm glad! I'm really working on improving certain aspects of my art, so your words here are much much appreciated! :)
 
Posted by Zahhar on March 28, 2009 - Saturday - 4:56 AM
[Reply to this
Rae

 
Very nice.

 
Posted by Rae on March 29, 2009 - Sunday - 7:14 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
Thanks! :) Glad you liked.

 
Posted by Zahhar on March 30, 2009 - Monday - 12:34 AM
[Reply to this
Francoise

 
This is amazing writing.

 
Posted by Francoise on March 30, 2009 - Monday - 5:43 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
I hope to be finding the time and energy to try out more story-based poems soon. It was the story poems, the verse, of Robert Service that cued me into poetry in the first place--years and years ago.


Glad you had high thoughts of this one. This is encouraging and makes me want to try another.
:)
 
Posted by Zahhar on April 1, 2009 - Wednesday - 4:14 AM
[Reply to this
CONNIE

 
Very architectural yet the imagery is appealing.
I loved this stanza





At home he rattles the chain link weight


of a long black tie over concrete sighs


into moon shadow stillness where


cold kitchen tiles reecho his


every step like white ribs cracked


by the strain of tomorrow



 
Posted by CONNIE on April 2, 2009 - Thursday - 4:00 PM
[Reply to this
Zahhar
Erin Thomas

 
When you think of it, we're surrounded by architecture. Everywhere we go, even if we backpack out into the woods we carry with us the architecture of our backpack, some of the structures of our society. It must influence our moods and states of mind more than we can know, or perhaps even grasp. We are lost in the maze of our own labyrinths, and they stretch on without end. There's only one way out.

 
Posted by Zahhar on April 6, 2009 - Monday - 6:43 PM
[Reply to this
Previous Post: raven song | Back to Blog List | Next Post: Three Ravens