Friday, October 17, 2008

For E














Your hand holds a bouquet of letters,
plucked soil close to your chest.
Upon your breast rests my word,
naked, frightened; burn it down.
Walls of sound grow from ghostly ash;
your face scorched by lamentation,
strophes hidden in ornate sight.
Speak? no, sing, for silence shields nothing.
Volume decelerates – I hear whispers arcane
beneath the residue of days
I frantically rub away.
Paranoia nullified
for a moment, pricked by ink
and the most sinister of chords.
Idle voices are the angel’s workshop,
so sing every last drop of the devil inside.
Senses flooded by recollection
as loss thunders louder.
Choking on notes, a piercing bow
over names in disarray;
let me tear torrents from your throat.
A frieze untouched, aware:
pourquoi est-ce que je ne chante plus ?
Illumination for occulted pains:
captured shores we never did taste,
yet your perfume remains.
Acres of sand levy a final sentence,
cut our feet with delicate orange regret
into glass easily broken
under the distance of your sleeping gift.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous... flowing... and very serene. May I ask who E is? Your wife?

Kup said...

l'excellent travail de mon ami.

Billie Greenwood said...

BordEr ExplorEr likEs thE poEm vEry much!

(what's that? i'm not "E"? o shoot...)

It is still beautiful.

Utah Savage said...

I know an E in this blogosphere.

And the last time a man wrote a lovely poem to me we ended up married and hating each other in no time. Be careful man.

Candace said...

I know I've said this before k, but posy is beyond me. Prose is more my speed. I know; cretin. Sigh.

Unknown said...

You never cease to amaze me Randal.

You have a soft side.....who knew? ;)

Utah Savage said...

Randal is the real McCoy. Sweet, soulful, deeply romantic, and talented as well. And don't forget ladies, married.

Utah Savage said...

Randal is shy too.

Anonymous said...

Je ne savais pas que vous aimez la chanteuse Enya.

La Belette Rouge said...

Oh, Randal. I never expected when you said that you write about orange that I would be greeted by this beauty."delicate orange regret." Le swoon! Le Sigh! You blow my mind with your capacity for this. You must read the book I recommended yesterday and get that book published. Seriously.

MRMacrum said...

Speak? no, sing, for silence shields nothing

Excellent. And so very true.

I hope E appreciates the sentiments here. Very nice. And very sad.

Randal Graves said...

spartacus, thanks. No, E lives in France, and singing isn't just a poetical device here. She does, and is having issues of a Beethovenian nature and it breaks my heart.

sal, merci.

BE, thanks, but if I wrote a poem about you, it would have to be an epic where the climax would be you kicking Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan in their respective sacks. ;-)

utah, hey, I'm not of the tribe of Willard. And my wife and I already hate each other. Muah.

candace, cretin. (you'll still give constructive criticism with the prose though, right?)

dusty, hell, I'm always a big softy. I'm just a jerk on the exterior to keep the other jerks away. ;-)

utah, if I'm ever on the market, you're gonna be my agent.

dcup, non, non, pas Enya mais Elizabeth Dole. J'adore ses ananas.

LBR, I'll read your recommendation, but mine? That thing is so far from finished. Yikes.

mrmacrum, thanks and that sentiment is certainly the wellspring of the piece.

Missy said...

Wow.

That is startlingly good.

You never cease to amaze me.

DivaJood said...

Aha. You have been slacking your Campaign Manager duties, by writing Pinko Commie Poetry, you arugula-eating, American-hating radical, you.

However, it's damn fine poetry.

Non Je Ne Regrette Rien said...

hell. there you go being all poetic and shit. Ma poesie est nul.

you win. grandly.

Randal Graves said...

missy, merci.

diva, what's a campaign? Remember I'm blond. And, apparently, stealing your lines. Merci.

JNRR, I just wish I didn't have to write this particular one.

Katie Schwartz said...

Sooo beautiful, RG.

You are a complex muffintop, ainchya?!

I'm with Spartacus. Who is E?

Randal Graves said...

Those are the best kind of carbs, right? E is just a friend of the French variety.

DivaJood said...

I'm annoyed. Colin Powell promised to endorse me for President, and instead went with Obama. Well, at least it wasn't Dr. Zaius.

Freida Bee said...

Randal. You broke my heart here.

susan said...

I read it through several times and will do so again. I like it.

Randal Graves said...

diva, you should know you can't trust a Republican. We've got more important endorsements like that one guy, and you know, that lady.

FB, then I was successful in getting across what I wanted. Funny how that works sometimes.

susan, merci.