The Blue Snake

Less than zero, dregs of a dead coffee

added to a year's writing--not much

worth salvaging. What's needed is action,

some mind full direction...

a bit of plot thickening the broth, a pinch...

my inner doubts churn--let us not turn weary,

good company ruins bad character.

The central thought is small, smaller

than the dreamt about ideal--the blue snake

in the closet needs to be fed.

I sense the sly slither of something,

rustling sheets, crossing over t's, doxxing

the balloon, when the slightly tarnished blonde

stirs hungry, murmurs, the blue snake awake.

Ken e Bujold

© 2022

Reviews

[Johathan Lubowitz]

In the forums I have found, the run 3 has good ideas for people to entertain and find interesting things.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh that blue snake in the closet needing to be fed...because it is the pen that wants
to recreate over a blank page and fill it with something special.
I know mine feels quite hungry when not fed for awhile.
this one did a "sly slither" (nice alliteration) over my mind.
j.

[Ken e Bujold]

we all have a reptile of some kind in the closet

[jacob erin-cilberto]

oh geez, Ken...
Mine got loose, and it is somewhere in the house!

[light and ashes]

Interesting work, I kinda like it.

[Ken e Bujold]

hahaha. well kind of like is a like in my books. thanks for stopping by LA. (your work you sent me is on the top of my to read list, next few days you have an insightful review)

[light and ashes]

Ok, thank you.

[John the Baptist]

One wonders what the blue snake symbolizes. The impression is it is some type of frustrated energy that seeks release, possibly due to dissatisfaction with the speaker's creative output. Then there is that slightly tarnished blonde who is just now stirring. Perhaps we are witnessing here the first stages of the breaking of a block.

[Ken e Bujold]

ah the BS, so many possibilities

[Robert Haigh]

A poem with far-reaching tentacles! Different shades and different shapes are in the shadows of this one! I sense frustration mixed with creative desire, coming together like some surrealist painting! A most interesting poem!

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks Robert. Glad you enjoyed the tentacles

[mattavelli]

Hello, Ken! :)
This was a fun read, though I feel a bit like the third wheel. Haha
Thanks for sharing.

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks for reading Matt. As for being a third wheel, that is ok. If everybody leans just so the old bug can still go
:)

[KWP]

hello,

I like the opening, I have been wondering myself how to write poetry like yours that perhaps intertwines itself in daily life instead of mere separation. This alone has inspired me to get back to writing some poetry as well as JUST WRITING ...

As with the doubt and creative process ...

I am currently reading a book that talks about the Poet Jack Gilbert and his short time in teaching. What he said as a teacher stayed with me and I feel if I was in the creative field, I would appreciate a teacher such as Jack (also was dashingly handsome in his youth). This snippet talks of Jack:

He was the most extraordinary man they had ever encountered. He seemed not quite of this world. He seemed to live in uninterrupted marvel and he encouraged his students to do the same. He didn’t so much as teach them how to write poetry, but why; because of delight, because of stubborn gladness. He told them they must live their most creative lives as a means of fighting back against the ruthless furnace of this world.
Most of all though, he asked his students to be brave. Without bravery he instructed, they would never be able to realise the vaulting scope of their own capacities. Without bravery, they would never know the world as richly as it longs to be known. Without bravery their lives would remain small - far smaller than they probably wanted their lives to be.

The last sentence coming from a man who wrote a book of poetry, then disappeared from society for ten years because he found it boring, he knew how to live a big life.


NIce huh? Inspiring. Why the self doubt if we are creating for ourselves alone, pushing ourselves deeper, further ... just because we want and quite possibly need to.

Hope your day is fab and thanks for the review on my poem 'she remembered' :D

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks for the review K. and the stirring of memory of Jack Gilbert. I am like he was, an admirer of Ezra Pound. Your bringing him up spurred me to go and reread a couple of his works, Fidelity and Bartleyby at the Wall. As a teacher I am sure he was splendid. I was fortunate enough to study with some similar, very gifted poets who had a very generous way of inspiring. Not sure how familiar you are with Canadian writers: I was the student of bpnichol, michael Ondaatje, and stanley fefferman.

ken

[KWP]

Wow - what a lucky being you are to have studied with such writers - must have been able to dive deep with all of them.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

There are so many different meanings that can be attributed to the words "blue snake" from depression, wisdom, to enemy, to sexuality and then there is an actual blue snake. For the sake of this piece we determine it to be metaphorical but we don't know the context other than it's in the closet. The hunger aspect leads us to indirectly associate it with sexuality. It was too much strain on my synapses to filter out the firing order. Everyone likes a puzzle though.

[Ken e Bujold]

thank you fabian for the in-depth analysis. The BS can indeed be all of those things, with one more to throw in: addiction

[W. Barrett Munn]

“a bit of plot thickening the broth” is such a great metaphor with a slant rhyme bonus tossed in for good luck. This whole poem is pretty damn marvelous.

Winston

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks W. And to think I seriously thought about just leaving this in the folder. Originally one of what I call my modern sonnets, an attempt at exploring the old form with modern theme and diction. Reread last night and thought, maybe more there than i originally thought, which the reviews seem to be confirming

[W. Barrett Munn]

One of the more difficult aspect of writing to me is the ability to read our own work as if we were strangers to it. Often, this is simply a matter of time, which is why we freeze pieces, or should.
Even then, it is probably best to hear the views of someone else before the trash can is opened.

Winston

[Chris Shaw]

the blue snake
in the closet needs to be fed

I felt hunger here and not for lack of food. A poem that can be interpreted in more ways than one. Good afternoon Ken.

Chris

[Ken e Bujold]

thanks for stopping by chris. yes, the bs is open to a myriad of views. my take on self-doubt, but what we each do with that feeling is the difference maker in so many lives.