Winter Underland~

Slay bells ring

are you listening . . . .?

 

Pines shiver needles

on my frostbit skin, brindled

dress my juniper freeze

my throat opens, it breathes

fingertips press parchment

diamond mind attollent  

reflective frost in a marmalade sky

ribs underground shiver

sigh

as underneath deeper

awakens the sleeper

I stroke snowflakes

stone skin

my apparition pure sin

my top hat

a perch for  a raven

killer sleek bird

shiny

and brazen

we bend

to a doorway of bones

to atone

we pull a tattooed child

from her prophecy

curled

cracking the eggshell of the spirit world

around sugar plum dreams

all nestled in her head

elsewhere so much blood, in her canopied dread

with a bruise

a crush

my rage in torrents, rush

my bottle pours icicles

liquid rime lips

aching to rip fabric

drop by

drip

poison  ‘tween monster’s deadly lips

but raven, he pulls my attention

to the girl with trinity dimensions

we kneel

we imprint the daughter between

papyrus flakes

he notices

stops

put on the breaks

the son idling

his black diamond eyes

blinding

laughing as he leans

the holiday in mean

sticks a cigarette into the mouth figurine

of the snowman with toadstool eyes

inverting a land of glistening rime

stalking in a winter underland

with a swaggering stride

Jimmy dean lean

by the old man’s fireside

 

I will walk a thousand sticks

pin the gods inside my fists

press through wicked brambles

sweep their minds out of preambles

to find the cradle

where I left you wrapped in fables

warm in sable

where you should have rocked

rocked snow angels

under a giant fir

in whose branches lay in wait

the frozen saboteur

who snatched the warmth out of your veins

and left me only memory

a display of echoes in the rain

turning frost onto the glass

where my fingertips bleed

 drumming

the side of my top hat

a frenzied strumming

agitating raven

to scold, become more craven

unsettling the ghost

of my son

until he slips through

with a gun

with sleigh bells ringing on the chrome

of his Harley

our proteome

spilling in between his hands and my throat

to fuel

unspool

rip the eve

reshift the gears

hit the throttle

break the bottle

 bleeding arm

snakes leather

pain couldn’t be any better

my bodice

in snow flakes

tatters

his smoke eyes

smoke lies

shutter

lens

scatter

sliding the side of past in a waltz

the future his partner

dip

curtsy

enthrall

ghost queen

riding winter underlands

with Jack

made of frost

raven

on my top hat

plucking elemental trips

out of the air

in pairs

dropping feathers

on a trail

in vain

out of the woods

silent in their freeze

permafrost

rotted

glistening

pause . . . .

slay bells ring

are you listening?

 

 

 

copyright:2010vssmd/amusemusepress

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Reviews

[Cafe Reader]

You have reconstructed fairy tales, holiday carols, mythological and classic tales, placed them in your magic cauldron of surreal imagination for that extra stir and served it up as only you could ever do. Completely enchanting the reader. I always suspected Jack Frost had a cad side. (:

[Robin]

snow globe meets crystal ball in rewind ~ tis the season of much introspection ~

[Closedown]

At first I was thinking "slay bells?" Then I realised it was a very effective pun. Love the repeated image of the raven on the top hat. As always, you construct beautifully cinematic poems. This is no exception.

[Jae]

i love this.
Slay bells ring. It made me smile. Since we are singing winter wonderland in my chorus class. (go altos!)
Your poem is absolutely superb and the imagery is immaculate. Dark and Beautiful at the same time.
Wonderful!

~Rem