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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Bodkin Between: Strange inspirations

It's been a while since I posted a poem, and this one may reveal the desperation of my sometimes searches for inspiration. The title comes from a reCAPTCHA prompt — one of those annoying but necessary little anti-spambot devices used to moderate blog comments. I actually like reCAPTCHA because it doubles as a way to leverage human eyes to help decipher bits of text computers have difficulty scanning.

The phrase in question — Bodkin Between — struck my fancy because of its Shakespearean overtones ("bare bodkin" appears in Hamlet's most famous soliloquy). I used the conceit of a heart as an indecisive dagger to build this verse. It obviously owes a small debt to the bard's great tragedy, although I hope you won't hold it up for inspection against the blinding light of those classic lines.

Bodkin Between
By Francis Scudellari

His heart borne as bated bodkin between,
Its once sharp edge, from youthful age hammered,
Dully cutting ever inward, kept close,
Not bared, buried in leathery layers

Awaiting a proper moment to strike
Out words, act, whether for anger or love,
From thickened air, carve himself a likeness,
But pausing, fear-full of blood stains, his knife

Rather stabs a path in pointed retreat,
Disused, each passing day withdraws deeper
Till embedded beyond his prying reach,
He casts without only his daggered stares

9 comments:

Jena Isle said...

...and squanders time amidst
his enmity to love...

Wow, a good poem to discuss and decipher in an English class. I wonder what was going on in your mind while composting it. Kudos to you.

Anonymous said...

Truly genius; totally awesome...excellent work Francis. Me thinks you leavest us all behind :-)
~JD

BillyWarhol said...

i find captcha is a pain in the butt!

so hard to tell the diff between u + v + sometimes the letters run together - like wtf is that all about*

there is absolutely NO need for a verifier to be that Cryptic*

;))

dodkqvfa!!!!!

Francis Scudellari said...

@jena Your line would make a nice addition to the piece. I've always have a number of things floating thru my mind when writing. I'm amazed at what surfaces once I get into the process of it.

@jd I'm not so sure I've left you behind as much as gone off in my own strange and solitary direction. But judging from the general indifference or befuddlement, there is a yawning gap between me and the reading public :).

@billy It can definitely be a pain, and I routinely mistype my prompts, but at least it's forgiving and lets me have another try. I think we should all start speaking in captcha ... it could be fun :).

Elise B. said...

I really like the speech bubbles with the red and blue shirts, the just look right. So... comic-like, I guess. I'm trying to think of other things besides "Go away." I've added a few more, but I'd like to have, like, 25 different speech bubble designs and right now... I might have 8... or so.

How's everything?

- Elise

Lynda Lehmann said...

Wonderful job here! Good turns of phrase and metaphor--and not predictable, which is always a big plus for any of us who are writing!

Francis Scudellari said...

@elise I'll have to put aside a few dollars and buy a "go away" ... I think that could be useful :). I'm doing well, thanks.

@lynda Thanks ... I'm pretty good at unpredictability, but I worry about venturing too far into the domain of the inscrutable or ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

It's amazing what a poet can squander out of a CAPTHCA.

Francis Scudellari said...

I may crate a new genre for it -- "Captcha and Verse" :)