Thursday, April 8, 2010

We Deserve Better

Winter is barely over
yet we still bear the marks of that season of death
like scars made by talons sunk into our backs

We've lived on the fringe of a real life
for far too long and now it's time
to get that taste out of our mouths

We need to rest our yellowing bruises
and limp away toward something better

We will not be anyone's marionette
in this boring, soul crushing life any longer

We deserve better

It's time to stow away to somewhere rustic and real
I want to light torches of pitched pine and hike
down to the hot springs on the Wind River

We'll carry a jug of that stuff your cousin makes
when she's not making disturbing art
We'll lie in the swirling mineral waters
and pumice each other in the glow of a crackling campfire
Hike back through the late snows
massage the chi back into our needy flesh

I need to strum my double-O eighteen Martin
and I need to strum you, beloved
until your strings twang
and the alphas howl along

I'm missing the sweetest sound in the world
you know the one
let's make it together
again and again and again

~ J. D. Mackenzie

(inspired by napowrimo prompt #9 choosing your mission from among twelve)

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful. Powerful images and really romantic. Lovely!

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  2. Very nice! "We've lived on the fringe of a real life"

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  3. I feel the same way about winter, and the arrival of spring. "We'll carry a jug of that stuff your cousin makes / when she's not making disturbing art" is pitch perfect! I am leery of today's prompt, seems unserious, but you have proven it can be used well. Thank you

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  4. This is just beautiful--reads like a dream. Way to rise to the challenge!

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  5. wow!! great use of the words!

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  6. Hey - this looks like fun... I want to do this with you guys...

    "We'll carry a jug of that stuff your cousin makes when she's not making disturbing art
    We'll lie in the swirling mineral waters
    and pumice each other in the glow of a crackling campfire"... or, perhaps, would three be a crowd?! LOL.

    Here is my Day 9 poem

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  7. I'm with Julie - I want to stow away too.

    Loved the lines: We'll carry a jug of that stuff your cousin makes / when she's not making disturbing art

    although I first read it as "when she's not disturbing art"!

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  8. JDM,
    This is brilliant! Do you own a Martin guitar? They are just lovely.
    Pamela

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  9. Thanks JDM for activating Name/URL.I love this poem, this is my favourite 'massage the chi back into our needy flesh.'

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  10. This poem works for me. The first stanza about winter is the one most powerful to me.

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