The baize will be soft
against your cheek
while the rail jabs
like to break your neck
You’ll wonder
are those stars in your eyes
or sights
as #2 blue fades to black
You’ll consider the texture
and velocity of wood
shaped as sticks
and spheres and tables
Two things will come clear
you’ll forever tug at your jeans
and blue
is no longer blue
For Just One Word in the Imaginary Garden: APART
This instantly brought to mind the movie The Accused. I don't know if that's what was intended, but it added an extra chill to an already ominous feeling piece. You took those small details and portrayed them so sharply they seem to jab at the reader.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I am guessing there will be a lot more than stars in the eyes once in contact with the pool table. Powerful write, Marian.
ReplyDeleteI like this. My father taught me to play pool and I became a shark like him. This did not bring to mind the accused but rather, The Hustler. I like how you describe the jabs, the sticks - the fact that "blue is no longer blue". I liked the stanza that starts: "You’ll consider the texture and velocity of wood" Excellent writing on this Marian. Sharp like the jabbing play of the stick against balls.
ReplyDeleteI might have misunderstood... but I do not see so much as a game of pool but a way of causing harm... will it just be a blue eye that is covered up with make up or worse?
ReplyDeleteThe moist crack is loud, in this one. No wonder sight and thought goes into chaos mode. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteOut isn't always fully out, I guess. I've known this for a while but you tell it beautifully here.
ReplyDeleteI like reading this, you our prompter aren't disappointing us No, I don't see pool either unless I squint. Squient so I can't see and feel love oozing from the lines.
ReplyDeleteBTW, do you have a pool table at your work?
..
Like Rommy, I thought of ‘The Accused’ and sat up when I read the striking (sorry for the pun) title. I like the contrast of baize and rail, and the ambiguity in the lines:
ReplyDelete‘You’ll wonder
are those stars in your eyes
or sights
as #2 blue fades to black’.
Interesting, friends. Well, the movie The Accused has stayed with me throughout life, same as the vision of this here pool table. Maybe it's too obtuse but the #2 ball is blue. xo
ReplyDeleteI am captivated by this poem, the premise is so unique. I am particularly struck by the third stanza.. the shape of wood, the table seen from a different angle.
ReplyDeleteI studiously avoid billiards for this very reason. That, and the fact that I don't know the difference between "billiards" and "pool", for which someone might knock my head against the table. So, I'm sticking to backgammon, which is said to be less violent.
ReplyDeleteHahahahahah I actually did a bit of research for this little verse... I always called it pool, but billiards somehow sounds nicer. I believe they mean the same thing!
Deleteto compare the playing of a game to face of love, its eyes and the wearing of jeans not forgotten..lovely...bkm
DeleteI found this unique, Marian, knowing nothing of pool. I did however go to the site and play with the design!
ReplyDeleteI very much visualize a pool table and the next strike.
ReplyDeleteI immediately thought of The Accused - a movie I have never forgotten the horror of. A chilling, very effective poem...
ReplyDeleteThe quatrains are so spare - so much is left to the imagination - very powerful.
ReplyDelete