Plaster Relief (Michael Paul Ladanyi)
~A Letter to Shannon in November~
Words are spider-prayer lullabies,
orange and cream tongues written
on the bed-sheet face of what we
have done to ourselves,
methadone rainbows eclipsing my spine,
bold aging thoughts that smell
like chocolate and pain,
pouring brown gravy, soup spooning.
Shannon, my stomach is hungry
stick figures, I am living in
despairing ghost-tap windows,
walking the green-brown hall
as a match-struck thing in plaster relief.
If I have ever heard laughter
like yours, it is now.
I’ll bathe eye-weight circles in shadow,
steal art to hang on my face,
phone you through a forgotten
stereo-tone number,
and listen to click-paper whispers
you call words, telling me
I can’t do this forever.
(Copyright (C) Michael Paul Ladanyi. First published in Laurahird.com, Feb. 2005. Later published in Laurahird.com Showcase, March 2005. The piece is also a part of my chapbook Suburban Fairy Tales of Brilliant Ash and Blue Sins, co-written with C. E. Laine, and published through Little Poem Press, March 2005.)
Words are spider-prayer lullabies,
orange and cream tongues written
on the bed-sheet face of what we
have done to ourselves,
methadone rainbows eclipsing my spine,
bold aging thoughts that smell
like chocolate and pain,
pouring brown gravy, soup spooning.
Shannon, my stomach is hungry
stick figures, I am living in
despairing ghost-tap windows,
walking the green-brown hall
as a match-struck thing in plaster relief.
If I have ever heard laughter
like yours, it is now.
I’ll bathe eye-weight circles in shadow,
steal art to hang on my face,
phone you through a forgotten
stereo-tone number,
and listen to click-paper whispers
you call words, telling me
I can’t do this forever.
(Copyright (C) Michael Paul Ladanyi. First published in Laurahird.com, Feb. 2005. Later published in Laurahird.com Showcase, March 2005. The piece is also a part of my chapbook Suburban Fairy Tales of Brilliant Ash and Blue Sins, co-written with C. E. Laine, and published through Little Poem Press, March 2005.)
posted by Michael Paul Ladanyi | Sunday, December 04, 2005
4 Comments:
I'm particularly fond of the last stanza. Nicely done.
Glad you enjoyed it.
I agree with Kristi's comments: good poem, and the last stanza is dynamite.
The first person that read this piece was Patricia Gomes, I believe on the day it was written over a year ago. She liked the last stanza as well.
Thanks, A~.
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