It's a sinister thing

It's a sinister thing

the smiling rose

wrapped in beauty and poison

a malice gift of love and shame

a burden on the bestowed

the guilty pleasures gone wrong

It's a sinister thing,

the smiling rose

" watch out for the pricks "

my old gran used to say

the casual abandon of

the cut of your cloth

hangs forever in the gallery 

of tombs

the charnel house

and dead ancestors and ghosts

remind me daily

in the necropolis crypt

what a sinister thing

a smiling rose

can be

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I liked it when i didn't know better...when flowers were just innocently beautiful to me...
even the weeds that choked other flowers...i didn't know better...
now I look at flowers and understand their brevity in time, their poison under the beauty.
I know better.
j.

[gram linski]

thanks as always, j. loved your little poem, made my day, always appreciate your time and thoughts

[Chris Shaw]

Yes, the rose has thorns and ivy and deadly nightshade are poisonous. Your gran was a wise woman. Look out for the pricks indeed. That's what my Dad would say too. Yes I met a few pricks in my time. Managed to escape all but one of them. Whenever I got a gift of roses from my first spouse, I always knew he had something to hide.

Chris

[gram linski]

thanks for the review, Chris, tad cynical on behalf of men but probably true, lol, always appreciate the read

[Robert Trakofler]

Hi Gram:) like jacob just said... i know better, but i still get pricked nonetheless I cant help myself I have to touch the beauty no matter the costs:) my hands are littered with scars and still I have to touch!

[gram linski]

haha, hey B, can't resist that touch, got the impetigo blues a few times myself, thanks for reading brother B always appreciate your wit and wisdom

[AJNJ]

Beauty coupled with feigned innocence can be so destructive. A potent and often lethal weapon especially when the intended is unsuspecting. Beauty has the power to visually captivate and render memerized the designated prey. I could liken that to the sting you speak of here.

I could go on and on as this poem is inspiring me no end. This great poem also reminded me in a certain way of 'Poision Ivy"

No surprises that we have legends of beautiful spies, honey traps and agents in history galore...

Enjoyed this read very much...

[gram linski]

thanks for the great review Pestonjee, glad you enjoyed it so much, wasn't sure if you meant poison ivy, the flower, the band, or the character in Batman they all have a bit of beauty and malice about them lol, appreciate the read

[Lydia Shutter]

A velvety petal hides a stinging thorn.....just like with many people we meet in our lives. Our parents and grandparents warned us. Back then we thought they were being overly protective. We should have listened! Good write. Lydi**

[gram linski]

thanks for the review, Lydia, aye the old ones are wise indeed, appreciate the read

[Eilis]

There is a short story by William Faulkner called A Rose for Emily where Emily is an older woman who lives alone and has never married. and has by all accounts found a suitor. But later something very grim comes to light. I think you’d like the story and I’m sure it’s available online.

Anyway, the tone of your poem, along with this mixing of life and death—the rose and the city of the dead, creates this sense of some kind of macabre, otherworldly scene where the speaker failed to heed a warning and has lived (maybe) to regret it. It definitely has all the earmarks of a warning from beyond or from far memory, but also there’s this sense of being trapped in life and having to relive the mistake. Perhaps somewhere between two worlds.

The rose as symbol of the sinister is interesting here because it is normally something I associate with love and vitality and longevity. But perhaps this is the point here. Like, what you believe something to be on the surface is not necessarily—and in this case definitely not— what it actually is. The hidden faces and depths of things we prefer not to see because they do not coincide with our immediate wishes. Trust a gran to see the truth though.

We should all listen to our grans and stay away from the pricks. Love the turn of the last two stanzas. It’s almost like descending into a catacomb with someone walking in front of you and realizing a little too late this is a mistake. Cool poem, Gram.

[gram linski]

hey, Eilis, like the idea of a rose for Emily, will check it out, aye was trying to convey that beauty death thing, where something has both those qualities mixing together and depending how you handle it dictates which face of it you see, almost like some Grimm fairy tale, the two sides of beauty, or some s**t like that, lol, thanks as always for your insightful deep thoughts on my simple words, they are always appreciated

[Paul Bell]

Always beware of beautiful flowers just growing wild and free, for she will tempt you in and take your life in three. Probably why roses have thorns to stop people taking liberties.

[gram linski]

you certainly don't want to take liberties with a beautiful rose, think my old gran was spot on, cheers, Paul

[Paul Bell]

She was spot on.