By Francis Scudellari
This is my song to fire
imagined gods, tipping the balance
of an eight-pointed star;
spirited tongues that orange-blue dance
lost stories of ancient's
mother whose land-distending belly
gave violent blood birth,
spitting forth choleric streams to crawl.
Molten fingers capped by
cruel mouths, gurgle cryptic paths down
humped and wooded back, till
reaching the lip of a plunging slope,
their fierce heads droop, roiling
limpid pools to release snake-coiled steam
and entreat ill-favors
from a jealous, flood-fathering moon.
This is my song to douse
fancied demons, speeding the tumble
of an eight pointed star;
frenzied frolics to blur waking myths.
This poem was written in response to Read Write Prompt #90 at Read Write Poem. The challenge was to take inspiration from a photo of a street performer balancing a metal frame tipped with eight flames (click the prompt link above to see it).
17 comments:
I loved your treatment here. Very forceful.
You'll find mine here.
Very intense, overwhelimg visuals, Francis. I especially loved 'Molten fingers capped by cruel mouths' and 'snake-coiled steam'.
Hello Francis,
This has strong visuals. I particularly like 'flood-fathering moon' and the very last line.
wow.
I especially like "land-distending belly..." and "jealous, flood-fathering moon"
The rhythms really appeal to me, and the suggestion of cycle in the first and final stanzas.
You have used very descriptive imagery siting the orange-blue dance of the flames and the snake-coiled steam as examples. Very expressive work, Francis! thank you.
Very dark..it brought an image of hell to me..good job!
This makes ME want to write my song to douse demons....
This took me into various places. I see dark yet I see light too..
geometry of fireworks cuts into me
I like the intensity and mythological character of this.
from Therese B. at RWP -- "frenzied frolics" says it all -- the fire, earth, water, and sky. "Frenzied" as in "frantic" or "delirious."
Very visual - and it moves erratically and violently like flame.
beautiful, Francis.
this is a perfect example of what I love so much about your poetry -- the visceral color and image of each word.
I close my eyes and I can see your poem.
(and btw -- I am going to finally sit down this weekend and read EVERYTHING! I appreciate your visits and lovely comments so much.)
I like the hard push in the first person voice of this; it really goes with the violent consonants. Richly descriptive.
David
@Anthony The first line of the poem actually popped into my mind upon first viewing the photo, and then the rest flowed from it.
@Damian Those were actually two of my favorites two. I tried to visualize lava flowing down a hill side.
@Tagskie Please stop by again. But I prefer links that are relevant.
@Derrick Thanks, I almost left off the last stanza.
@Briarcat The prompt seemed to provoke a feeling of cycle, or turning, so I'm glad you liked that.
@Linda Thank you... I like the idea of my poems as expressionist works... that's among my favorite schools of painting.
@Cynthia There's definitely a darkness to it, but I hope it's not oppressively so.
@Julie I think it would be a very popular song on the charts :)
@gautami I definitely tried to balance it out a little.
@Nathan Thanks you... for the comment and the prompt!
@Therese I hadn't actually realized that there were the 4 elements until you pointed them out :).
@DJ A bit destructive, but interesting to watch (I hope)
@Angie I look forward to the comments. I really love your work and am amazed at the productivity.
@David Thanks so much. I did want to convey that sense of violence.
I like where you went with this....nicely done
Thanks Wayne... the support is appreciated.
Nice thoughts expressed in this poem :)
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