Oil Pastel Skin

it's one of those poem things and it kinda rhymes...

Oil Pastel Skin

jazz and poetry

painted with fingers on your skin

caught with the scent

of spring rain still in your hair;

and this sin in me

solemnly tainting my heart again

has me bent

on the idea that I'll see you there;

I know it's just a dream

a reverie of a New Orleans

that no longer exists;

that Benny no longer sits and plays

his guitar on these lonely days

when my passion is remiss...

but I am ---wishing

that I could show you those things

and the portraits I made in past years

---by kissing

paint onto canvas, as I sing

with my fingers; flecked with oil & pastel tears

but in these early moments

of this dust-covered palace in New Orleans

as the sun greets and we see...it'll be mornin' soon

I'm watching you from across the room

as you dance a slow tune of jazz and blues

leaving me to wonder

and wander

through these dreams of New Orleans...

amidst these dust-thickened sheets

draped as ghosts

across these memories and scenes

depicted on canvas frames;

and this...lust-sickened beat

of my heart

which has escaped with the hopes

that I won't be evicted from his heavenly plane

creole verse

traversing the streets we seek to see

as if whispering to me

your heart is this way;

a mixture of dreams and wishes

hopelessness and decay

again I am grasped by the scent

once again

of spring rain and cayenne

in your blood and your skin

sitting with my back to the window

to a city I know has me written in her bones;

my soul carved

--into her stone bricks and streets

covered in dust, with my heart,

covered in dust, like these sheets

but you're dancing

a slow tune of jazz and blues

to the music beneath our feet;

and you're entrancing

because you make me choose

to once again believe and dream...

Author's Note

Why is the format wanting to screw with me? Whatever. This is another poem that's going into my compilation called Dreams of New Orleans.

Reviews

[Olesya]

jazz and poetry
painted with fingers on your skin.

Very well said

[New Theory]

Ohh damn this was a beautiful poem, just took me there to the bar in the new orleans with jazz in my ears and smoke filling the room with the beautiful damsel who I want so much sitting on the other side of bar. Simple sultry stuff made my mind racing all the time I was reading I could picture the things as happening right infront of me.

[kublakhan27]

I've never been to New Orleans - or outside of Canada for that matter - so I can't say the city is written in my bones, but I sure wish I could, for all the reasons you've outlined in this very cool and ambitious piece. I truly felt transported to the city as I made my way through the jazz and poetry and spring rain, and yes, the women haha I love the scattered rhymes as well...sometimes I think they're more effective than a rigid rhyme scheme. A smooth and soulful (to use Jacob's word) adventure of a poem...very nicely done :)

[MachinaWriter]

I don't even know how to use a rigid rhyme scheme lol I started writing scattered, then kind of started trying to learn rhyme schemes, then went back to what I normally do lol I just try and see if it fits when I say it lol But thank you, I appreciate it. And you should definitely visit New Orleans. It's a very unique place.

[kublakhan27]

Always a pleasure my friend. I would love to visit anywhere outside my country, I just don't have the resources...someday maybe though, at least that's what I keep telling myself. I studied a lot of different literary eras in school so I did gain a pretty good grasp of fixed forms...I also noticed that with each successive era, the forms became a little less rigid, and free verse slowly but surely evolved to where it's at now. Eventually most of the rhyming poets gravitated to music.

[MachinaWriter]

True, and even there the rhyming is becoming less solid. Though metre is still quite strong, even if rhyme isn't. Funny, because I was just mentioning on the other comment how I was reading my old poems on here and I was noticing a shift. The shift is almost exactly like what you're talking about here lol Funny haha

[kublakhan27]

Haha I've always maintained that there's a collective unconscious on this site, and maybe that's another example haha

[MachinaWriter]

haha ^^ yes, a collective unconscious. "We are the hive!"

[jacob erin-cilberto]

jazz and blues
me's and you's
dreams and wishes
and all those come true's


such a feel for the city in this soulful piece.

love it.

it is inspiring to read poetry like this...
i want to go play guitar on a streetcorner...and feel the momentum of new orleans within the strings.

[MachinaWriter]

And you would lol she makes artists of us all, I swear. Thank you for the kind review, as always, Jacob.

[Bright Ocean Star]

"Creole verse traversing the streets we seek to see as if whispering to me..." phenomenally beautiful. I love New Orleans, and this poem captures it perfectly. Thank you for writing it. Mesmerizing. It brings back years of favorite memories of times long past. Love it! 100/100

[MachinaWriter]

Thank you ^^ New Orleans is my favourite city, and it's been some time since I've been there. I'm working on a compilation of poems all based around my memories and thoughts of New Orleans. One of the other pieces is up, titled Graveyard Murals, or "Benny you're a fool...", similarly about someone I knew in the city. You should check it out if you ever have the time. If not, then I still appreciate your wonderful review of this piece. It truly means a lot to know when people connect to what I'm writing. ^^

[Frieda P]

Oh my, you had me at that first line...sigh. I'm in love with N'awlins and this poetry....I can't really pick a favorite stanza, but I was really jazz'd by this one in particular...

creole verse
traversing the streets we seek to see
as if whispering to me
your heart is this way;
a mixture of dreams and wishes
hopelessness and decay

Now I want a fried oyster po'boy, go to the House of Blues and drink a Sazerac! Going on my shelf to be revisited again and again...

100 oil painted pastel tears

[MachinaWriter]

I love New Orleans. I still consider it my city, in that it's a lot like me. Broken, beautiful, sad, hopeful, artistic, and dreaming. I'm working on a whole compilation of poems like this, based around New Orleans and my thoughts and feelings surrounding it. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, thank you, it truly, truly, truly means a lot ^^

[Frieda P]

Ah that's poetry in and of itself...I've been there half a dozen times, and fall in love with the people, food, it's quirks and everything about it each and every time. It's quite unique, like this piece...the pleasure was all mine indeed.