many dresses in february

i had a little tea party today with some lovely friends.  here are a couple of pictures of us in all our dresses.  we drank tea, ate sweet treats, and played games.  harry potter clue wasn't as rousing as hoped.  curses ended in many laughs as usual (and i won, ha!).  but the poetry below the pictures is the result of our several hour long apples-to-apples.

(this one is a little dark, but i'm putting it up because jack is kissing Adelaide!)

Katy
we are slightly misunderstood
those in porcelain cups

appetizing each other's egos
with sweet compliments

coy with white smiles
tricking onlookers with snappy retorts


Adelaide
the radiant crossing of bridges
on white horses

splashing across great widths
of juicy tropical landscapes

halted by the cravings
of steeds for chewy snacks

amongst the shade of palms
and packs of cuddly critters

seen only in a dream
in the mind of George Washington


Liz
the sound of something like
"uSuperufluousu" slipped

through the keyhole of an old door
in an almost nasty tone

as if it were something
other than normal being said

behind scenic wooden doors
of an old castle in the hills

stuffy with stone and cement
on every wall

no hint of inspirational design
or luxurious consideration

yet something magical
slips through the door with it

a scary rhythm to the voice
enchanting the listeners

into dysfunctional chaos
dimming and turning

each obtuse stone
turned


Erin
the curious sound
of leaf blowers in winter

mark the desperate type
of homeowner

fuzzy on snow etiquette
and clearing the drive way

trying too hard to look sexy
while shoveling and scraping

thinking unthoughtful thoughts
of legendary historians

with senseless abandon
for reality to the point of absurd

yet exciting transcendence
all the while clearing snow


Danielle
dead leaves fall from hearty trees
with dreamy affectations for the ground

stirring the balance of the ground
furious with pine needles

attended by oddly cute rodents
with puffy tails and cranky dispositions

running from peek hole to peek hole
with a sense of cosmic urgency

confused by the deviation
of regular weather patterns

Cat
risky big business
taking on starlets

with eyes that glow virtuous
against mirror glass

the mold is too twisted
to adjust for profits

no matter how dirty
the bathwater

it's never hot enough
to make right

the sting of a sensual
encounter with lawyers
 

On "2 Poems" by E. Smith Sleigh on paperdarts.org

E. Smith Sleigh on paperdarts.org

it's been a while since i really delved into poetry.  sure, i've been dabbling.  and this might just be a spurt.  a sputter.  but i always like to pretend that i can put my poetess hat on at any given whim.

to help me feel better about poetry, about myself and poetry, i need to read some.

i've been involved with Vera Pavlova in the form of her book "If There Is Something To Desire" over the last week or so.  i may dare to share my thoughts on her work once i've read and reread it all a few times; although, i already have half of the pages earmarked.  i have a certain affinity, it would seem, with female russian poets.

if you know me on facebook, chances are high that you've received a message from asking for suggestions on more poetry books.  perhaps i'll start a regular (maybe monthly) poetry review here to go along with my mashpee chamber themed posts.

getting back to poetry... it's been a long time since i read chapbooks, e-zines, and other poets' blogs.  so a simple google search for online chapbooks lead me to a list of 12 beautiful online magazines.  first on the list... paper darts.  which is exactly where i found the two poems written by E. Smith Sleigh.

 

upon first reading the poems, in the format they appeared on my phone, i approached them wanting very much to like them both.  before i reread, i decide i like the first one much better, but i cannot decide why yet.

 

upon a second reading, i think the cherry pie mention is mostly what swings my bias, but i also realize that by the time i am mid-way through the second poem, i have figured out the alliteration game and find it less interesting than the first poem.

 

not to say i don't like the second one.  the first one, the second one, let's give them names.

 

E's first poem is called "medieval metal music".  in it, E breaks down structure with his own structure and with the content of the poem.  the format of the poem is an appeasing square, but within it the reader must rely on gaps without punctuation or line breaks for breath.  thus, emphasizing the content of the poem, the structure lends itself directly to the poem's purpose.  and leaving the structure of a stream-of-conscious style poem, cherry pie. 

 

where "medieval metal music" is unpredictable, with just enough new turns to keep me interested by not lost, "rising waters" strikes me as somewhat more childish with its "invisible dark matter   dark
matters   madder than a hatter  chic tam" ramblings.

 

however, this somewhat rambling predictability is in cool contrast with "medieval metal music" which relies on the reader's inevitable frustration with current music genre titles.  instead, "rising waters" is nature. 

 

structure vs nature.

 

i get it. i buy it. i read it again.

 

man makes cherry pie out of structures.  nature makes us go back inside where it's warm and dry and we can't be taken by the flood for our tribute to the structures we've created.  these two poems, the more i shift around inside them, become a debate between each other.  the value of human society in contrast with the natural order.