A plume should be a thing lovely and light
dancing violet as it's fanned
at the flanks of the blue
bird-of-paradise
who hangs limberly
to solicit a mate
It should curl
blinding white at the back
of the puffy Samoyed
prancing fancy to please a master
who also preens on the oval
of a sawdust track
It should flop
red at the top of gold-painted tin
helmet awry on the head
of an aspiring actor
who plays centurion for tips
outside a mobbed Colosseum
It should spray
as clear and cooling drops out
the copper mouth of a grass-snake
green hose uncoiled by
the sneaky dad who tickles
giggles from sweaty kids
It should flutter
gray at the tail end of a quill
bouncing to the frenzied
jottings of an anachronistic
frump who takes the pain to outfit
himself far too seriously
A plume should not be a thing of plague
riding currents kissed by taint-
sweet crude blasted from a wound
gouged in the crust
of a frigid deep to feed
our shallow lust for eases
It shouldn't choke
It shouldn't muck
It shouldn't tar
It can't help
poisoning that last pretense
we cared about anything,
be it plumed or not, but
the finality of
a bottom line
We Write Poems posted an announcement from Poets for Living Waters calling for work related to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. I wrote this in response to that, but I'm not sure yet whether I'll submit it (pending a possible re-write).
7 comments:
This was an absolutely brilliant poem! Incredible!
Well done Francis. Bright color imagery, and just right to contrast our other poor-worldly now reality. Thanks for contributing.
Oh my gosh, Francis, "Plumes" is magnificent. I did not expect it to go to oil spill. Surprising, dark, true, clever...well done, indeed!
@RN Thanks. I'm still tweaking it a bit, but it's pretty close to done now.
@Neil Thanks for posting about this, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it.
@Brenda I'm not sure how many people will guess the reference from the title, but if they stick with it they'll figure it out by that sixth stanza :). Now I see BP is denying that there are any oil plumes.
It's splending Frnacis, doesn't look in need of a tweak to me.
Beautiful and evocative stuff, here, Francis. Both a tribute and a lament. Nicely done.
Fantastic Francis!
A heartbreaking reality.
Pamela
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