She adhered
to merciless missing
the way a drunk can’t shake
the innocent amber liquid
that burns going down
and swelters from the inside.
It was her secret,
the simple holding on;
such a tangible desire
that even a flicker of loss
would require an assault,
conflict of great magnitude.
A complex question, then,
woven like dreams of giving
clouds plus nervous-service:
What will the explosion be like
when opposite but equal forces
collide? Projected bombogenesis.
Fireblossom set the Toads loose with an A+ word list today, from which I believe I have managed to use seventeen in this little poem. I took liberties with the forms/tense of many of the words. Bombogenesis was not on the list, heh.
Whew, harsh! Cuts brilliantly into the hidden refusal to let go as an addiction, so that, yes, I can feel the building into the big burst of ____! I'll hope for the best.
ReplyDelete"nervous-service" awesome. this poem reads like a shot to the gut. :)
ReplyDeleteMissing...refusing to let go equaled to addiction..I can feel it in this piece.
ReplyDeletePacks a humdinger punch, this poem...
ReplyDeleteBombogenesis. I had to look that up! What a good word. Did you know that it replaced the less successful Dumbogenesis, in which unsuspecting elephants were swept up by...well, no, I suppose that may not be strictly true.
ReplyDeleteI think I met the subject of your poem, once. All a person can do is hide in the storm cellar until they run out of steam.
"it was her secret, the simple holding on;" a terrible tension in this, a pull and drag tug of war between life and death, caring and nihilism..or so I read it...really well done, marian, from first to last with a gradual build to abrupt explosion/resolution.
ReplyDeleteThis really packs a wallop, Marian!
ReplyDeleteAgree with other commenters= this holding to loss very palpable. k.
ReplyDeleteSo good, hard hitting and heart hitting too. Nice use of the words!
ReplyDeleteBombogenesis ... maybe it SHOULD be in the dictionary! Awesome write!
ReplyDeleteBest description of a drunk's beloved ever!
ReplyDelete..holding on often isn't very easy. Very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteBombogenesis? Birth by explosion? I don't know where you found that word, but it is ultra-creative, and for some reason I feel I identify too closely with the persona of this poem. Must be those awful memories of failed love rising to the surface.
ReplyDeleteShe adhered to merciless missing... Ain't that the killer?
i learned the word "bombogenesis" from a friend who is a self-described weather nut. isn't it the best??
ReplyDelete