Saturday 25 February 2012

Walking around





It so happens I’m tired of my feet and toenails,
my hair and my shadow.*
It so happens I’m tired of being a woman.
I pass by dressing shops in my faded jacket of goose feathers.
I don’t want to see shoe stores of animal hide nor make-up counters
of hundred choices to look like someone else.   
I want to chip away my breasts and curve of my hips,
I want to pluck away my eyelashes, shave my hair with a razor blade.
It so happens I’m tired of being a woman.
I don’t want to be just a limb or apple of Adam
Nor the sunflower seeds borrowed under the snow.
I want to carve the rough wood in my hand.      
I want to level the stone steps in my rock garden.
I want to hammer the roof of the cathedral in the city.
That is why on Monday, I will walk to the river edge
Cover my body with breadcrumbs
And allow the seagulls and pelicans to peck my neck,
my lips, my eyes, until I am bare dust.   
Maybe then I can hear the sea shells, broken white, on my feet.
  
* Lines and Inspiration from Pablo Neruda’s  Walking Around


Posted for:   Imaginary Garden with Real Toads:  Mary Mixed Bag  - Borrowing lines to write this poem.  
and D'verse Poets Pub:   Poetics - Sculpting a Poem  - hosted by Victoria Slotto  


I had originally used this picture in my Lightning post.  I think its a cool picture to use for this post.

43 comments:

  1. wow.. really like this..great intensity and imagery...love the faded jacket of goose feathers and the closure with the breadcrumbs and seagulls...shivers..very nicely done heaven

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  2. WAY cool, poem. I want to hammer on the roof of the cathedral too, from way way up high on a gargoyle.

    It does get tedious, eh? All this womanly maintenance. Not that I do all that much, mind you. :) But I definietly avoid all make-up counters and those over-laden faces.

    xo

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  3. Great verses here, heaven... only hoping she gets her goals beyond such a stony life...

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  4. holy crap...this is frickin awesome dulce...love the voice you use to write this...so strong...the transforming one self...the covering your self in bread crumbs is visceral and intense...and great closing line...top notch stuff!!!

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    1. sorry grace...as soon as i hit publish i saw the name was wrong...apologizing...i will blame it on being blown away by your verse....smiles...seriously great stuff...

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    2. No problem Brian. Thanks for your lovely comments. Smiles.

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  5. Very intense. A unique approach and perspective. Somewhat chilling; and it made me think what it would be like to BECOME a sculpture.

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  6. Wow, great poem! I like how the poem identifies with the statue, like it wants to break free of its unnatural form of a woman and be pecked away into dust, as it is in nature. The picture you chose was apt.

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  7. An amazing poem, Grace. Not the exact opposite to Neruda, either, but your very own, using one of his lines. Good work!
    K

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  8. Intense, deep and image filled. I love the rawness, the feeling of wishing to strip everything away back to being naked and hence, I imagine, unburdened.
    Lovely writing Grace.

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  9. Great write Heavens! The breakaway was intense. That would be how a sculpture would endure!

    Hank

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  10. "until I am bare dust." ...full circle (cycle)...pleading for release...

    freakin' excellent !

    Peace ☮

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  11. Great build on the Neruda lines, Heaven. This is one of your more powerful pieces, clean and tightly written, and the tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Excellent poem.

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  12. Wow that was amazingly done. The pic is just awesome, the light breaking through and then your intense verse, wonderfully done!

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    1. Oh and the cat doesn't screw up names like someone, guess he wasn't gawking to well today huh?...LOL

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  13. Profoundly beautiful and touching, Heaven. The repetition of I want...I don't want...adds so much power to the words and the image is amazing. Plus, Neruda is one of my favorites.

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  14. You did a really nice job on this prompt, and chose one of my favorite poets as inspiration.

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  15. Such an interesting poem; moves from the more modern and even political to something deeper and universal. Well done. K.

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  16. The picture you chose for this is as intense as your words. Perfect.

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  17. Very interesting parallelism.

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  18. This is very nice I do not know where to begin. That is a cool sculpture, one that I think only you could find :) I love and enjoy this Heaven.

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  19. What a wonderful take on the prompt! Great descriptive language and such intensity, loved it!

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  20. Oh this is a really great write.....I, too, avoid cosmetic counters - there's just no use even bothering, hee hee - and your poem reminded me of one I love by Marge Piercy, who wrote about cosmetic women ignoring her as she scuttled past like a raccoon. Hee hee. A really original and interesting write, kiddo.

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  21. This is far and away the best thing I have read on feminine empowerment for a very long time. This is poetry.

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  22. Very powerful indeed, and as above, and empowering piece. From a male perspective- the same can ring true - you want to be seen as more, and transcend the gender stereotypes that exist. So much so, and with such passion, that you want to level stone- change the elements. Very strong write and very much enjoyed.

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  23. Very powerful and visual. I could see the layers unfolding... very nicely done my friend!

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  24. Wow...this is amazing...very cool perspective on the "self". That sculpture is something else!

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  25. Wow...great write... I really liked the hundred choices to look like someone else... a lot of truth in this.

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  26. Wonderfully intense, challenging our perception of Woman. And on the day of my birth, what a wonderful present this is!

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  27. Powerful, the seemingly actions that break conventions. The baring in the end is intense, just so naked and daring it seems. Incredible.

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  28. Love so much Grace and especially this:


    It so happens I’m tired of my feet and toenails,
    my hair and my shadow.*
    It so happens I’m tired of being a woman. yeah!!!!

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  29. I love what your inspiration has produced. :-)

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  30. Extraordinary - in all of the good ways.

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  31. wow Heaven...this is powerful writing... why can't we still do what we want? souls free no matter what form they are encased in?

    I loved this line "hundred choices to look like someone else." ...time to fall in love with ourselves...just as we are.

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  32. such amazing powerful lines.awesome is the word. but on a different note,and I realise I am not the best person to comment on this, but shouldnt the feminine body be a source of inspiration and celebration, as opposed to doing away with it?

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    1. It is a poetic take on the notion of a woman's body and all its pre-conceived notions. It applies to a man as well ~

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts ~

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  33. An amazing (very interesting and stimulating) picture and poem to match - you make her come alive and with a very well-crafted poem too. One to make me think...

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  34. Powerful prose, I can so relate to wanting the confines of society to break free~ We think they are, but are they?

    Well done~

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  35. wow, this is powerful, declaring...and that picture goes fabulously with it.

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  36. Dear me! Great poem for that striking image ... but I wish the poor dear could understand that all the things she is tired of being are society's limiting notons of what a woman is, and that all the things she would like to do COULD be done as a woman! (An irony of which I am sure you, her creator, are well aware.)

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  37. Om Heaven, this is just absolutely and utterly amazing! I am just gobsmacked by your magical ability. Thank you so so so much! X

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Thanks for your visit and comments ~ I appreciate them ~