He Spreadeth Sharp Pointed Things upon the Mire
by Bill Yarrow
My uncle looks into the bleached eye of his cat and asks
"What happened to my ear?"
The meerkat's eye replies:
"You had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut off your ear to save you."
"What happened to my ear?"
The meerkat's eye replies:
"You had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut off your ear to save you."
My uncle looks into the smudged window of his oven and asks
"What happened to Maude?"
The sundered oven replies:
"She had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut her out of your body to save you."
My uncle looks into the blistered photo montage and asks
"Where's Colin? He'll be late for the swim meet."
The designer frame replies:
"He had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut him out of your hopes to save you."
My uncle looks into his aluminum shaving mirror and says
"Why did they want to save me? I didn't want to be saved."
The dented mirror replies:
"Who clothed the horse's neck with thunder?
Who can discover the garment of his face?"
"What happened to Maude?"
The sundered oven replies:
"She had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut her out of your body to save you."
My uncle looks into the blistered photo montage and asks
"Where's Colin? He'll be late for the swim meet."
The designer frame replies:
"He had cancer. Remember?
They had to cut him out of your hopes to save you."
My uncle looks into his aluminum shaving mirror and says
"Why did they want to save me? I didn't want to be saved."
The dented mirror replies:
"Who clothed the horse's neck with thunder?
Who can discover the garment of his face?"
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Author's Note
This poem appeared in FRiGG.
It also appears in Blasphemer (Lit Fest Press 2015).
Title and last two lines from Job. (Last line inverted.)
Other stories by Bill Yarrow
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Nicely biblical.
So strong and ironic in nature.
"My uncle looks into his aluminum shaving mirror and says
"Why did they want to save me? I didn't want to be saved."
Beautifully framed question that everyone of us asks the powers that be everyday.
Yeatsian gravitas, I would say. It's got the power.*
Especially like the function of the visual throughout, leading to the mirror in the closing stanza. *
Sinister in a lovely way.
Always a pleasure, Bill.*
*
Koanesque and, to borrow from Hardaway, "Sinister in a lovely way." *
*
OMG love it!
Thank you, SDR, Darryl, Diane, Sam, Gary H. Gary P, Rachna, Mat, Amanda, and Didi, for reading and commenting.
Sad, moving, tough piece. So well wrought--& the refrain in the 1st. 3 stanzas is wrenching, for sure. And the Job ref at the end is aptly stunning.
Thank you, Ed!
I was liking it, and then I read the last stanza. Now I love it. *
*"He'll be late for the swim meet" undid me.
Thank you, Emily and Nonnie!
All watched over, we are, but by whom?
*****
Thanks, JLD!