Please comment. Of course, I didn't meet the line limit. And I had started this poem on a completely different tack and it took this direction. I don't know how I feel about the ending. - Thanks, Jane
Slipper Glass
Babes in toyland, heels stare
back from ledges, full of blush
and fairytale. Adorable.
These will never be shoes.
Built of steel and skin, between sex
and city, they beg, canines
in a wolf's grin, calling on a daughter's shaky
ambition. But oh they are so pretty,
petals in shades of please, puppies
in a shop-window. Take me, take me.
They lie. Shoots dig in,sprouting
and pubescent, deep like a fork's tine,
a jackhammer, a scalpel. All of you blisters.
Still, you auction futures, empty
retirement accounts, pawn good sense.
But like Mellancamp sang,"Come on, baby,
make it hurt so good". Glamour, Vogue,
even Ladies Home Journal, all say
"Fuck Birkenstocks." "Burn all flipflops."
"Hail the heel." Let it be a spike,
flush and plum against the heart,
shrill yet lovely, because what is a girl
without a little blood and tears.
It makes me think of big bad wolves with 4" stilleto teeth looking for little girls in red who are not supposed to walk into the deep dark woods all alone while being not so innocent.
ReplyDeletewow!
DeleteJane,
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. You're a goddess. "Babes in toyland, heels stare
back from ledges, full of blush
and fairytale. " I can see the narrator, yearning for those shoes, red shoes perhaps? Shoes of legend and fairytales.
I, however, am not sure about the Mellencamp line. It brings me back to reality, and red necks. (I love the song, but...)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOooo...I love how so many creative writers on this blogspot have stories and poems with a little bit of darkness and bite to them! I am so impressed with how freely you all utilize expletives, but they don't feel wasteful or immature like spoiled brats or something (sorry, that must sound so childish coming from a student within a blog of mostly adult teachers).
ReplyDeleteBack on topic to your poem, in agreement to what Camille said, I did get that whole "Little Red Riding Hood" vibe from the poem, which haphazardly balanced from innocence (children and puppies), with a progression of the evils exposed to us as adults (after the "pubescent" line, with weapons like the jackhammer and scalpel, etc), but it wasn't confusing. Finally, I felt the theme of morality--that there is good and bad in everybody--was hinted strongly by your piece.
In conclusion, I can only continue to marvel at how much literary context you were able to squeeze in so little (it was still very concise, even if you said you went over the line limit). It was just fantastic!