The Lion is Me, a reading

Turn your volume on … the poem is embedded in the author notes.

The Lion is Me

A Reading

The Lion Is Me is published in Strays and available at the link below or through your local bookstores and libraries.

Strays is a collection of two extended narratives and more than forty love-themed poems, exploring the meaning of romantic love while we have it and attempting to find the healing after its loss. Found within these pages is the short story Gutter Dog, the novelette Ginni, and the poems False Skin, the Boy Who Wore Clothes, and the Black-Wit Reveller.

Author's Note

Reviews

[SteveB]

Desperation, terror, hope, and regret and a lover's longing for reunification all linked together. I really liked the "lion is me, the roar is all yours" as it leaves the matter up for interpretation - is the lion's roar at the service of the other or has the lion already surrendered her roar?

[Pryde Foltz]

Very insightful review, Steve.

[Ruth]

I for once am not going to even try to analyse, just say that this is one hell of a poem and made me feel such pangs of both tension and worry also...for some reason, but not without a thread of hopefulness there x

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Poppy. The hope was in the choice and now its gone, but the love remains and the lion roars again. LOL.

[Ruth]

Lovely, holds strength x

[Neon]

look up; look back
the lion is me
the roar is all yours
come back; land
and
the soft earth is ours

The lines're cool. I liked the piece. Words're simple & nicely penned.

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, Neon.

[Douglas White]

Truthfully, this sounds less about anything romantic, and more along the lines of sitting in a doctor's office looking at a bland watercolor on the wall and hoping like hell that you aren't going to hear the dreaded phrase "I'm sorry to have to tell you...", only to find that everything is actually normal after all.

Then again, I'm not exactly known for seeing things the way other people seem to...

[Pryde Foltz]

Thanks Douglas. There is definitely some illness and suffering going on.

[Dr. Wood ?]

great analogy, Steve hit it on the button, Lovers torn yet inexorably drawn together

[Pryde Foltz]

Yep. Thank you, Doctor.

[Aaron the Baron]

When love has its, shall I say claws, into us, the feeling is so strong within us that we think if we simply express the idea boldly enough, that the other person will understand and that same love will grow within them. You can send notes, roar it in time square, march banners in front of them but it still will not be enough. Unfortunately when someone makes up their mind, there's little we can do. But continue to roar with this feeling left inside of us. Great piece.

[Pryde Foltz]

Wow…did you say it. Thanks, Aaron.

[Jack...]

You're a kitten, who are you trying to fool?

Pryde, my friend, you do have a way with ideas and how you put them to words. Talk is cheap, no matter how loud it is...roar all you want, hopefully someone else will listen because this cats gotta roam.

Purrfect.

[Pryde Foltz]

LOL. Thank you, Jack.

[Chandradhish Ghosh]

Indeed it is painful...I really admire the subtlety with which you express such feelings...at the end of everything there is a call...a call for reunion forgetting all the pain...only a courageous few can do that!

[Pryde Foltz]

Courageous and slow to get the point. LOL. Thank you for this lovely review, Chandradhish.

[icelandicblue]

Love is powerful but sometimes it's just an empty roar into the wind. Your poem is poignant and painful and very well done.

[Pryde Foltz]

Wow, Icyblue. Did you ever call this one. Well, this lion is going to lick her paws and find someone else to roam the jungle with. Wink wink. Thank you.

[Edgar Perez]

Absolutely Grand! This is really good!
I really enjoyed every word! Thank you!

[Pryde Foltz]

Thank you, I am the project.

[Edgar Perez]

You're Welcome! (:

[Pryde Foltz]

This is a very personal write. It goes out to one person in particular, but perhaps, for all, it points out the futility of loving someone who doesn't want you to love him. Roar all you like lion the bird, will not settle. Thank you for reading.