Purveyors of Leeches
by Bill Yarrow
I.
In "Resolution and Independence"
Wordsworth admired the firm mind
of the old leech gatherer on the moor.
To me, he's the emblem of the writer
walking into the scummy pond of life
waiting for the vile leeches of heartache,
the stinging leeches of heartbreak,
the slimy leeches of broken hope
to attach themselves, like dust to a
mirror, to his torso, legs, and arms.
At home, he'll pick the sticky pieces
off him and put them in a water jug
to sell to all those suppurating souls
desperate for relief from bleakness
of spirit, or illness of body, or torpor
of mind. “Who'll buy my leeches?”
cries the poet with several squirming
in his hand. “Who'll buy my leeches?”
cries the novelist, bending under
the weight of hundreds in a sack.
“Leeches for sale! Leeches for sale!”
II.
I am a purveyor of leeches. All my
friends are purveyors of leeches.
We meet weekly to compare our wares.
She buys my leeches, and I buy his leeches,
and he buys her leeches, and we attach
them to each other, and they suck out
all the vileness of living alone, of living
in groups, of living in pairs, in short,
of living, and, for a while, we are healthy
and happy until someone comes along
and explodes our hopes or extinguishes our
hearts and then we ache and bleat for sticky
leeches, for where else can succor be found?
It's a brave poem that goes into the scum and the slime and comes out as this one does coated with truth.
"waiting for the vile leeches of heartache,
the stinging leeches of heartbreak,
the slimy leeches of broken hope
to attach themselves, like dust to a
mirror"
And the last part of the first section reminds me of Rossetti's Goblin Market.
I love the whole of the second section.
I think it would be much better minus the Wordsworth mention.
It would be better if it began with:
The writer walks
into the scummy pond.
"At home, he'll pick the sticky pieces
off him and put them in a water jug
to sell to all those suppurating souls"
Good poem, Bill. Strong work.
*
Excellent in person, too.
"the vileness of living alone, of living in groups, of living in pairs, in short,of living"
*
This is gorgeous. Timeless.
*, Bill. Read aloud, this is so powerful.
Thank you, David, SDR, Sam, Amanda, Gary, Gita, Emily, and David!
Beautifully done, Bill. A master poet at work here.
We all need some succor.*
*Everything about leeches gives me the creeps. And yet, here they are, again and again and I love it.
Thank you, Molly, Gary, and Nonnie!
Strong. What an image. My reaction to this one was so complicated it rendered me inchoate - except to know it is accurate on about 37 levels (and don't ask me to list them) Excellent. You should work with this idea. There's a lot more gold in the mine.
Thank you, Larry!
Oh yeah.
https://youtu.be/2ngGbEJR7Ag