And the footman sat upon the dining-table
Holding the second housemaid on his knees--
Who had always been so careful while her mistress lived"
— From "Aunt Helen" by T.S. Eliot
It's laugh-out-loud funny
how
one death
can change things.
If she were here
I'd blame
it
on a lifelong ill-
fascination with
Charlie McCarthy
or a hang-up
that's lingered since
the bourbon-scented Santa
invited me to sit.
At some point
you've got to
get back on the horse
though my levers
aren't so
easy to work
and, I better get
more
than a stuffed Pooh bear
out of this trip.
It's still-deep
water under the bridge
because
she's not.
It may be Tuesday in Chicago, but it's not in Australia where this Poetry on Wednesday Prompt originates. The image of a ventriloquist is what popped into my head first when reading the snippet from Eliot, and yes my mind works in strange ways.
11 comments:
Always someone trying to manipulate - who's pulling the strings now?
oh, I like how you mind worked this one, Francis. pretty powerful emotions bubbling under the surface. and I love the ending, stopping on the "not" is very clever.
and strange is defining things in new ways... awakening our senses... raining down on our soul...
'I better get
more
than a stuffed Pooh bear
out of this trip.'
like what we get from this work... much more than one thinks...
liked this work very much.... i repeated the ending to myself many times... it was like a koan... each time the image revealed something new...
'It's still-deep
water under the bridge
because
she's not.'
This is wild! Is that Sebastian's pooh bear from Brideshead? I like bourbon scented santa. This has given me a head rattle.Like Kramer in Seinfeld:)
Love the way your mind is ticking here, with the 'off pat' images.
Strange what our minds can do, eh Francis? Ventriloquists can have such a sinister relationship with their dummy!
The WV is "bermen" - almost right for Charlie!
"or a hang-up
that's lingered since
the bourbon-scented Santa
invited me to sit."
that's great!
I love that you felt so comfortable going with your gut, and stuck with the ventriloquism idea.
- Dina
Francis you have a great imagination! I love this!
Pamela
Things I loved: Charlie McCarthy, the bourbon-scented Santa (nice), the Pooh bear and the startling ending. But, the beginning was just as startling, with the laugh-out-loud funniness of death. Slightly deranged, but I'm learning that POW prompts incite that license.
nicly ticked Francis.....than ks for this
I'd like to know the rest of the story.
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