I Can't Spell Poetry With a Capital P

In the style and inspired by Danny Earl Simmons

I can’t spell poetry with a capital P…

when love is a broken kaleidoscope shattered at your feet, spilling contents that are supposed to create beauty in colors and shapes, colliding against each other in a mirage of light and mirrors, but that today only forms a grotesque mess on the floor that I sweep up with one hand and wipe tears with the other…

when the chasm that grows between us is not quiet in your silence, more a weeping glacier melting under the weight of our demise, or a cracking branch hit by lightning laughing in the distance, and we chew our dinner in mutual discontent…

when divorce is like the plague but marriage is a slow death of melodramatic quicksand where I’m up to my neck in disappointment and my stretching out to reach for the vine you’re holding inches away only magnifies the wretched poignancy of my abjection…

when capitalizing a word means glorifying it, and what I’m doing is calcifying my bitterness onto its wafer-thin wings and slowly dragging it to its knees.

Reviews

[ANTO]

A true poet - worrying if they will taint the very thing that sustains them
I love the imagery of the bust-up toy - its magic revealed as worthless now.
"..chew our dinner in mutual discontent.."
the Poetry will survive and elevate despite what we throw at it. :)

[Karen]

Thank you, Anto, for your comment.

[Samuel Dickens]

You make a powerful, exquisitely-worded statement, but I can't find the association between the beginning line and the rest of it. It's probably just me, always needing things to make sense and fall in order, oblivious to many subtleties. Still, I think it's a fine piece of writing.

[Karen]

I took the style of the first line from another poet and I meant to say that it's hard to write poetry when one's marriage seems to be falling apart. For a few of us (and perhaps even you included) we express ourselves through poetry and tend to capitalize the title... it's hard to "capitalize" on anything during hardships. Or something like that. Thanks for the comment :)

[Samuel Dickens]

Yes, now I understand. The place I need to be when creating, both inner and outer, is as fragile as egg shells, and can withstand very little adversity. When I went through divorce many years ago, I wrote a few poems, but they were dark and bitter--not at all the image I wish to project.

[Karen]

Poetry is "as fragile as egg shells" especially when we share them with others and let them walk on them as well; some are gentle, some are not. And when we share the few, dark and bitter ones, they are especially poignant to us, and we are especially sensitive to their critiques.

[Dara]

"When divorce is like the plague but marriage is a slow death of melodramatic quicksand" Wonderfully said and so powerful.

[Karen]

Thank you Passionflower. For some, divorce, indeed, is taboo, especially when there is no other reason to do than to fall out of love. But remaining in a marriage can be a worse fate. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.

[Frieda P]

It certainly doesn't always paint the picture we envision of poetry, but there's beauty in the darkly colored images and sentiments also. You've written the pain of a broken relationship so elegantly how could it not be considered beautiful? I'd spell this Poetically Poignant. Outstanding read.

[Karen]

Thank you Frieda. Relationships are so complex - whether it's between parents and children, siblings, couples - that to pinpoint its ending becomes blurred and ultimately disappointing. I wanted to use as many images and metaphors to express that complexity and ultimate disappointment.

[Frieda P]

You did so successfully Karen and then some. I enjoyed the blur very much.

[Emily B]

i love poetry about poetry, it's just the best ever

[Karen]

Thank you Emily

[Lydia Shutter]

Sometimes the pieces of the puzzle are so pretty, but the picture they create is quite different. So many incredible metaphors and descriptive phrases "weeping glacier", "chew our dinner in mutual discontent", "melodramatic quicksand".....WOW! You have not dragged poetry to its knees in this write.....you have elevated it to another level. Wonderful work. Lydi**

[Karen]

Thank you Lydia. Your first observation is SO correct! Puzzle pieces are beautiful but sometimes the image that surfaces when they're all put together is not what we expected. Thank you also for commenting on the writing. That is very helpful and appreciated!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is a significant write...the metaphors are brilliant..."calcifying my bitterness"

"marriage a slow death of melodramatic quicksand" ---i have been in that...

and chewed dinner in mutual discontent...

where is the love that is not broken?

[Karen]

Thank you for reading, Jacob. I was inspired by another poet and truly enjoyed the inspiration, riding that wave as far as I could go. Thank you for your appreciation not only of the content but of the writing as well.