Spoof me poem

 

Here are my purple Mexican Petunias after hurricane Irma slammed into Gainesville, Florida.  They stand tall despite the ravaging.

I’m gathering and rewriting a collection of most of my published and unpublished pieces of flash memoir, flash stories, prose poems and a sprinkling of haiku.

I need help with the title:

  1. Streaking through the World
  2. Streaking through the Mall
  3. Running through the World
  4. Running through the Mall
  5. Thanks for Not Cutting Down the Purple Petunias

Let me know your vote.

Here is a prose poem I started in an MFA at Lindenwood.  I’m playing with it.  Comments are welcome. I’d like to include it in my collection. Yes, the title is tricky but then, so is the poem.

Welcome to disorientation. Just feel it without overthinking. Memoir zapped.

 

Spoof Me

 

Don’t talk to me about man and his love of water. Water sucks down and away and man sucks any which way.

Don’t talk to me about women who walk on water or men who think they do. They all go under.

Don’t talk to me about sobs in the next room. The waterworks of a human running.

Don’t talk to me about twilight and its power to kill.  I grow in silence.

Don’t talk to me about floodwater flashing over Ute graves in Durango, where fifty feet under lie villages of sorrowful maidens raped and rejected a millennia ago, their love knots melted into silt. We will never solve their love triangles.

Don’t talk to me about white men who once sailed the globe. Strip them of their money, their skin and who are they? White men without skin. Not much to look at.

Don’t talk to me about salvation. I have no idea what that is and besides, I walked on water three times and it wasn’t much fun.

Don’t talk to me about ice cream dribbling down a cake cone in outback heat, dog growling out of the shop, biting into my child leg as vanilla scoops tumbled to mud.

At least the dog ate them.

A purple bruise grows on my remembering.

 

 

Kaye LindenSpoof me poem

10 Comments on “Spoof me poem”

  1. Mary Ellen Gambutti

    Hi Kaye, Rhythm, the repetition, the tone and weightiness are enjoyable in this prose poem. Feels like a bit of a grumble which I can totally relate to! Best wishes on your collection!
    Mel

  2. kaye

    Thanks Mary Ellen,
    Yes, it is definitely a grumble. That’s why it’s a spoof-a little trickery thrown into the ugly mix.
    Memoir fractured.
    kaye

    1. Kaye Linden

      Thanks Bonnie. Very funny. Purple is a color with multiple cultural and historical associations. Thanks for your honesty. I am lucky to have you in my critique group. Kaye

  3. Joan

    I vote #3.

    Are you referring to childbirth when you talk about walking on water three times?

    Loved it.

    1. Kaye Linden

      Hi Joan,
      The image refers to peak times in my life when I believed I had “found” spirituality, “walking on water” so to speak, only to lose it.
      A reader brings his or her emotional history to a read. Therefore, the image will speak differently to each person. It certainly could refer to childbirth and breaking of the waters.
      Thanks for commenting. Kaye

  4. susie

    I like 3 because it fits you! I like 5 equally. Thought- provoking lines. Deep. The one that includes rape, love knot, and love triangle confused me, though .

    1. Kaye Linden

      It’s a tricky poem. Don’t overthink it. Just historical imaginings/ when I am in Durango, one of my favorite places, I always “feel” the history under my feet. k.

  5. Jennifer

    Always love reading your blog and what you’re tweaking poetry wise, my dear!
    What about a combination title? Something like: Streaking through Purple Petunias…
    I know you’ll find the perfect title.
    Be well.

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