serene: mailbox (Default)
[personal profile] serene
One is supposed, I gather, to post a poem upon seeing this post. Do so if you like. I'd love to see them.

Here's mine:

The Friend
by Marge Piercy

We sat across the table.
he said, cut off your hands.
they are always poking at things.
they might touch me.
I said yes.

Food grew cold on the table.
he said, burn your body.
it is not clean and smells like sex.
it rubs my mind sore.
I said yes.

I love you, I said.
That's very nice, he said
I like to be loved,
that makes me happy.
Have you cut off your hands yet?

Date: 2004-10-16 05:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com
i adore this poem.

i first found it in an anthology. that i lost and can't remember the name of.

:)

marge rocks my socks!

Date: 2004-10-16 05:58 pm (UTC)

Date: 2004-10-16 06:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] intenselaura.livejournal.com
That made me think of this: http://www.deviantart.com/view/11457888/

Date: 2004-10-16 07:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] qe2.livejournal.com
Oh, thank you. I love this poem. I calligraphed it for a dance in college (it made sense at the time, I promise), and it's haunted me ever since.

Date: 2004-10-16 07:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] karenthecroccy.livejournal.com
I almost chose this over the Marge Piercy poem I posted.

Yay for this poem! :)
From: [identity profile] artemii.livejournal.com
The Purge

Beware institutions begun with a purge,
beware buildings that require the bones
of a victim under the cornerstone, beware
sacrifice, watch out for marriages
that start with a divorce

To break a champagne bottle over the prow
of a boat is prodigal but harmless; to break
a promise, a friendship much more exciting
(champagne doesn’t squeal) ; but doesn’t
the voyage require a lot of sightseeing
and loot to justify that splatter?

Give it up for me, she says, give him
up, giver her up, look only in my eyes
and let me taste my power in their anguish.
How much do you love me? Let me count
the corpses as my cat brings home mangled
mice to arrange on my doormat like hors d’oeuvres.

But you know nobody dies of such executions.
Your discarded friends are drinking champagne
and singing off key just as if they were happy
without you. One person’s garbage is another’s
new interior decorating scheme. If she is your
whole world, how quickly the sun sets now.

--Marge Piercy

Date: 2004-10-17 01:15 pm (UTC)
ext_9215: (Default)
From: [identity profile] hfnuala.livejournal.com
I gotta get me more poetry by her. Is there any particular book you recommend?

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serene

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