Diseased

[Delta40]

This is the disease speaking
not me
Where I am
caught in webs of salty kelp
gnat eaten and dried
The no place zone
for a girl to dwell
Ooooh, they say
she's not well

My compass spins
and sometimes I sing
North or South
East or West
Mother knows best
She won't function
between the soft layers
of a mollusc
now I'm sucked in
and can't leave

But my plate is licked clean!
Cold death quivers
along my spine
like a port wine jelly
So I might spend my existence
plaiting the washed up shore
draped around me
and long to hang from a cloud
in a seaweed noose

But the authentic you
will find a way through
purring like a fat ginger cat
Teach me how to set the table
A rickety chair for one
done

Let the disease sit on the floor
while I devour
every hour
the full buffet
of my life
I'm the only one speaking
to the gravy mopping end

[Buh4Bee]

Delta, This is so good. The images and the novel metaphors convey the desire to live and also what a struggle life can be, as your title implies.

[Delta40]

Thanks Buh4Bee. I'm glad you got it.

[blank|verse]

I think I've said before how you're so prolific it's hard to keep pace with your output, Delta. But you never fail to impress with the diversity of subjects and voices. And this one's no different. I loved this image in a poem that's taut with tragi-comic desperation:

So I might spend my existence
plaiting the washed up shore
I wasn't sure at first about the appearance of that cat after all the brilliantly sustained sea imagery; but I can see how it introduces a contrast between the natural and the domestic.

[Jack of Hearts]

This reader must confess he missed the deeper meanings but there's striking imagery in there, such as being tangled among kelp or washing up on the beach, that's pretty dark.






J

[PrinceMyshkin]

Not my favourite among your poems because the statements are so raw and seem to be variations on the same theme. There's no music here and a flat tone.

[Delta40]

Not my favourite among your poems because the statements are so raw and seem to be variations on the same theme. There's no music here and a flat tone.

You're probably right but this is where I am right now in my writing. I'm sure it will pass...