“....this woman was not created by contemplation to be what everyone wants her to be, one for many. She emerges, is displayed, her wings rise, and, behold, she returns the look!”
Elfriede Jelinek
MARLENE
Am I leaning on a lamppost at the corner of your street,
the music that you shuffle, the track that you repeat;
a sudden Vegas blackout or your name lit up with lights;
a bloodrush of ecstatic days or endless dreary nights?
Am I the hidden fluff in pocket and the gum stuck to your shoe?
If I disappeared this instant then how long before you knew?
Am I open wound you long to bind and tear you want to lick;
thoughts to whet your appetite or joke that makes you sick?
Seamed and silk-topped stockings or fifty-denier ribbed tights;
three wheels on your wagon or ceaseless Armageddon flights?
Technicolour dreamcoat or your favourite shade of grey;
a rose by any other name or grass scorched into hay
Designer logo on your T-shirt or an embarrassing old stain;
Heady range of snow-capped peaks or flooded lowland plain?
Show me, Love, in black and white, just what I mean to you:
I have to be your passion – liftetime’s habit will not do.
Good Morning!! :)) Having posted this at about 0500, I have now sort of finished it (I knew Muse was being impatient earlier! NOT my best time!) and so Sage's comment has gone rather skewed... but thanks anyway, Sage xx And couplets... yes... but stretched ones... like old tights... :)) LOL K xx
See I'm not the only one that raves about your work. So many agree and call your compositions 'masterpieces'. You are singularly unique - a one of a kind lady with an incredible talent and the more I read of you, the more in awe I am. Thanks for all your inspiration dear Kate. Long live your muse.
Chanti
Kate, everything you write is masterpiece quality regardless of the subject matter ot the time of day. Couplet form truly perfectly suits this write...the contrasting needs of love and how we are perceived. Do we have a need to be everything to someone or is it possible we can be be? Do we lose something in the process of trying to be something we aren;t? Passion is sweetest when all we have to give is what we honestly are and no pretense save a fantasy here and there! ...simple or complex...with or without the stretched stockings!
:)
Love,
Taylor
Underneath the lampost by the village gate,Lilly Marlene;-)
such a super write Kate! On a topic that impacts us all. Seeking answers as to just how much we are thought of by our loved ones and especially our spouse or lover, or both;-) whatever the case may be.
Wanderlust comes to mind. We have deep passions and need them fulfilled, but what do we dare to risk for it? Most times when we get to the place where restlessness becomes unbearable it is because we are letting oursleves forget there is One who fills that hole, but we have forgotten St Augustines's "heart is empty til it finds its home in thee" because we have to fulfill our desires which don't include Him, at the mo! Sorry Kate your poem gave my gypsy heart a lot to remember, so I had to share;-)Nothing is ever worth ignoring Him.
Exceptional, exquisite writing; rhyming and meter excellent; a perfect poem, who cares if the couplets are long? Poetry can be anything it wants, because it can. :) Well done, my friend.
Well well well, Sweet Kate as I sit here in my own jammies at 6 in the am I clicked onto your name like a magnet clicks to steel to see what your latest offering was. I was not dissappointed it was the kind of poem that draws me into your mind and lets me look at things through your perspective and I loved what I saw. The images flashed me from one scene to another like a slide show of a romeo's love life. Very beautiful Kate and again your flexability shines through as this poem is a new side of your writing that I really like. Very good.
I knew that going to bed earlier than usual would pay dividends. Eight hours of delicious sleep brings me to this agonizing plaintive appeal to know how this lover stands with another. Suddenly, I'm wide awake, refreshed, and rhankful that I know Kate Burnside. Kate, who shares her gift of writing, and that "Martlene," is the one leaning against her other trophies.
This poem is asking your mate if love is still there after 50 years of marriage... or after an hour of passionate sharing... and is the awaking of a lover in the middle of the night for questioning. I trust that they will be answered promptly and fullly, for any lover who poses them, is surely up to bringing affirmatives to each and every one!
- Bill
Reviewed by Vesna Perkovic (Reader)
Reviewed on July 24, 2006
Oh this is a GEM Kate..and the thoughts are very familiar..so most of us ask these questions huh? Any answers yet?
I am saving this one..it's perfection in word.Thankyou marvelous poet-ess that you are!!!Wow!
The idea of seven-off, seven on, works here for me...no habit, just intermittent passion and my favourite shade of grey is the one fresco on wood kindling slivers bleached out in the sun for a season. Marlene is far more germinating than casting pollen to the wind in a hit-and-miss method of reproduction...sleepless nights spawn poetry like this, then why sleep, Kate!
wow....this is great....the many masks of love......
great melody here and attitude...open......no punches pulled
last line....the best.......
I like when you rhyme Kate....
pax A
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Chanti
She is quite a complex and fascinating character, this Lily Marlene of the Lampost..
Clarity and focus of mind abounding, with a scalpel like intellect...such wide and alluring appeal...
Anyone for coffee...it's getting hot in here !!
Love
Peter
I agree!!
Great offering Kate!!
Love Tinka
Now I see why
exquisite poem
God bless - Mich
Thanks for sharing
love and peace
Hawk
:)
Love,
Taylor
such a super write Kate! On a topic that impacts us all. Seeking answers as to just how much we are thought of by our loved ones and especially our spouse or lover, or both;-) whatever the case may be.
Wanderlust comes to mind. We have deep passions and need them fulfilled, but what do we dare to risk for it? Most times when we get to the place where restlessness becomes unbearable it is because we are letting oursleves forget there is One who fills that hole, but we have forgotten St Augustines's "heart is empty til it finds its home in thee" because we have to fulfill our desires which don't include Him, at the mo! Sorry Kate your poem gave my gypsy heart a lot to remember, so I had to share;-)Nothing is ever worth ignoring Him.
Exceptional, exquisite writing; rhyming and meter excellent; a perfect poem, who cares if the couplets are long? Poetry can be anything it wants, because it can. :) Well done, my friend.
(((HUGS))), love and prayers, Karla.
(((HUGS))), much love, and many prayers, your friend in America, Karen Lynn in Texas. :D
I have to be your passion – liftetime’s habit will not do.
Marvelous poem, Kate - and words to live by.
Pops
This poem is asking your mate if love is still there after 50 years of marriage... or after an hour of passionate sharing... and is the awaking of a lover in the middle of the night for questioning. I trust that they will be answered promptly and fullly, for any lover who poses them, is surely up to bringing affirmatives to each and every one!
- Bill
I am saving this one..it's perfection in word.Thankyou marvelous poet-ess that you are!!!Wow!
Vesna
you poetry is growing in leaps and bounds ... you certainly have to be his passion for you heart is full of life and meaning ...
Sage
great melody here and attitude...open......no punches pulled
last line....the best.......
I like when you rhyme Kate....
pax A