My Grendel~

Girl floated her canoe on a lake of marmalade glaze

belly, sunned gold

wild, evergreen eyes 

complementing bent pines, whispering her name

skin, white clay

and look! there!

Heron is trailing her canoe through the shallows

his blue tipped wing open to comfort a trembling butterfly on her taut shoulder

“This ain’t a good idea, girl.” trils Heron

his silver iris giving Odin a run for his recreated fragment

girl says nothing

strokes paddle against underwater stumps

pushing to the shore line

 

Owl turns his head around

idling between dreams of being a man in love with a crazy girl

and an ave who's biggest concern is to Hoo Hoo in rightly worship

at the M o o N

so we can see, he is circle of magnificent DNA

atomic bumps in particles in the space between his stillness on a branch

and a girl dragging a green canoe onto the bank

“Who.” Says the owl

girl tilts the heart of her face to the trees

a wicked little pull of a smile at the corner of  berry lips, asking

“How many licks to the center of a monster’s soul.”

laughter in cell division breaking through a primordial puddle at her feet

owl sighs his wings in a fluff of agitation

“You should know better than to ask this girl for any straight answer.”

Heron mumbles. sidestepping a snapping turtle peeking from its shell

 

Girl on knees in shallow sands of light

a line of deep concentration between her pearl brows

clawing earth out of the fluctuating spine of a ground that didn’t know tomorrow from yesterday

fingernails break off around a latched box of scrolled bones

her blood through the lock

a liquid  key in extraordinary pain

opening . . . .

 

Wolf gave himself shape from the mud

took the clouds across his bones

a distant star for his eyes

soft paws on sand

his muzzle lowered beneath girl’s chin to lift her face

eye to eye

“What are you doing, girl?”

his sorrow

her beating heart a knife

her hand on the lid

“Killing a world.” she smiles

she opens the box

 

Heron covered his silver eyes with wings

owl turned his head away

wolf felt the press of collision in the fabric of strings pulled taut

but does not turn away from his girl . . . .

 

Inside the box black velvet night

a swirl of constellations winding

unwinding

a single genetic factor

coalescing

a mask

her arms dip elbow deep

her own private gom jabbar

eating away her skin

flaying muscle into thin slivers

snapping sinews

melting bone

wolf braces her, his spine pressed into her belly

lest she fall, again

 

Girl became mobile stone;

from the box she pulls the Mask

with the green beryl eyes

opening . . . .

wolf moves aside

lays his body on the ground

supplicating

 

Girl traces a line of memories in every crack of the living Mask

with sheer fingertips made of stardust

pulling memories from every pore

~girl as monster falling through a man, jaws unhinged~

~predatory beauty filleting the center of a man with curved claws~

~woman swimming silk sheets with a dagger between her teeth to pause at a man’s throat~

~ecclesiastic beast on all fours of seduction with an arch as deadly as a charmed snake~

 

“Enough!” wolf interposes his head between her gaze and the mask

owl shivers on a branch

Heron, being, wisely, magik avoidant, contemplates stones in the water

girl smiles

lifts the Mask to her face

ties it with a ribbon of lace light at her overdeveloped occipital lobe

 

“Girl, why?” asks wolf

she strokes the underside of his chin

the Mask eating through her bones

solidifying pearls

riveting mythos

“Wolf, I don’t always have the answers.  I’m just another monster, doing the wrong things for all the right reasons.”

 

Girl floats her canoe on a blood lake

pearl dipped ruby eyes  bursting

under

her fingertips

stroking the surface

releasing juxtaposed morality

to swim like jeweled minnows down river. . . .

to the Alloy Forest

 

 

 copyright:vssmd/pa.inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

excerpt from

 

 

 

Reviews

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Selene,

You took me back to my youth.

Sometimes monsters have to look within their own soul and decide how they want to do their own lives. It's interesting you talk of a girl finding a mask to put over her face only to create herself anew. So telling...

Can you be a monster Selene? Can you be naughty like me?

Regards,

Matthew

[alan peter kelly]

mesmerised i



eyes plyed



into cornered



stars / a constant



thrum of fingers



soothe yet



climb a chill



up the staircase



in a spine



killer strafes



the Iris



and slaughters



muttoned



bones



to dust



as



colours plume



all phosphorus



puff then crush



the paltry



into sepia



retropect / blood



spurts excited at the necessary deaths



i am the



rabbit in a head light



road kill in the morning



yet



glory / hallelujah



hallowed be



Selene

[Andrew Wright]

Your work is captivating, every time. Great piece.

[Molafvt]

This is a Mythical journey, woven with an incredible amount of love and language skills. A unique way of telling a story, although i must admit that I was not comfortable with the "halting" quality at the beginning of each paragraph. There is a redundant aspect to the structure that I am not fully at ease with, but aside from this "one man's opinion", I loved the retelling of this story through your magical mind.

[Morning Star]

Awesome story your words grasped the reader ( me )
and took me into a journey prehistoric underworld
to actually try to find the monster within
I truly enjoyed this old tale
Brilliant and uniqueness in style!
Wishing you Peace Love and Light...Yolie

[Marianne]

I am lost in the uniqueness of your talent....breathlessy hanging on every word, and though I lack some understanding of this glorious write and read, I know it is
written from your magical mind, your heart bleeding into my soul.

[Bard Constantine]

There's something to be said for a tale of one who actually seeks to find the inner monster, as opposed to running from it. The way you unfold a story is always a treasure to witness, you're able to pull the reader into your primeval underworld of talking beasts who are no more beastly than the humans who devour their world... and the sorceress who would rather live among them but for that horrid little demon called Reality... for which she needs the Mask...

Always a pleasure...

[Robin]

a beautiful twist on this classic tale , I prefer your genetic version and vision of your Grendel ...

[Brad]

d****t, girl, i need to hear you read your stuff sometime...i've got that jersey drawl in my head of yours and could hear this being told by you....excellent prose, and that marmalade must be a b***h to paddle through?

[.]

"Owl turned his head around
a circle of magnificent DNA
atomic bumps in particles in the space between his stillness on a branch
and a girl dragging a green canoe onto the bank
“Who.” Said the owl
girl tilted the heart of her face to the trees
a wicked little pull of a smile at the corner of berry lips, asking
“How many licks to the center of a monster’s soul.” "

{No Fair Selene--You are too Talented}

"Girl floated her canoe on a blood lake
pearls of ruby eyes bursting under her fingertips stroking the surface
releasing juxtaposed morality
to swim like jeweled minnows down river. . . ."

{you are such a sophisticated-cosmopolitan story teller-
and the flow of this reads so lustrously glossy--I Love it}

james:-)

[Sweet_pale_cacophony]

“Wolf, I don’t always have the answers. I’m just another monster, doing the wrong things for all the right reasons.”
..for me the essence of the entire poem lay in that very line when she says i am another monster doing wrong things for all right reasons.Your vocabulary is very very rich,and you have a very good grip on the structure and the flow of the poem.