MAO
by Kyle Hemmings
I did not conceive the tilting trees or the people with white ashen lives, left to stand alone, crumble without a garage sale of useful parts. A girl who mimicked the inner glow of jackdaw babies said Die with me. I left her in the silence, a morning entwined with the arms of lovers about to swallow a poison made from Gerbera daisies. I kept seeing a girl from the roots of a dream about Peru. I felt Spanish moss in my bed. My nights were sticky--I so wanted to believe. I weaved the purling and shift of her voice. She was as distant as Mao, someone I never met, but whom everyone carried in their eyes, red with long-term memories, their fears of crammed space, swift invasions under the stars. Trying to fit China in a room. Someone once said emptiness is an illusion that leaves you "hanging" in space. Was I supposed to laugh? A waif from a traveling circus took my money and left me stranded with obsolete visions of the Far East. There were times, I swear, in the middle of the day, perhaps, or in the knot of a failed noose, when I believed there was someone other than me with mainland need.
Beautiful. I will read this again.
Thank you, Frankie!
Nice. "Trying to fit China in a room. Someone once said emptiness is an illusion that leaves you "hanging" in space. Was I supposed to laugh?"
This is a good piece. *
Thank you, Sam!
Must have been an interesting prompt though I'm certain the poem is of infinitely greater interest.
Love the way the words play and tumble and flow and frolic, with flashes of significant recognition peeking out along the way. The Mao line stopped me cold, and I went back and reread it and marveled. "...everyone carried in their eyes..." Wooo! *
This section is masterful: "I weaved the purling and shift of her voice. She was as distant as Mao, someone I never met, but whom everyone carried in their eyes, red with long-term memories, their fears of crammed space, swift invasions under the stars." Loved it.*
breathtaking throughout*
Thank you, everyone, appreciate the great comments!
This is excellent.
*
Thank you, Matt!
Vibrant language.*
Thank you, Gary!
Beautifully executed. Consider submitting to group "Dreams."
Wonderful, Kyle. And to name the syndrome in the end "mainland need" wraps it up with such finality.*
Thank you, Sara and Gloria!