Velvet Lines

Her face melted into the

beige backdrop

 Her fingers

frail as the crumbling room

  Slowed as her intentions

cringed madly over the marble glaze

chanting a feverish mandala

I could hear her distance

absent and running down the ninth floor steel obituaries

She was no longer in her own skin

The skill of jaunt had long since tumbled off

like dominoes

       down the stairwell

     down the wet floor she layered...then

in through the hallway,

Wheels and memories squeaking

The abyss growing louder with

  shame 

as the words plucked from my side

 

Everything about it

was in perfect alignment

In proper isolation

My shades howled with the filth of a pleasant light

  magazines muddled up to their corners

I was everywhere my mind abhorred

though I could take no less

We were falling into contentment

Without warning 

my name pierced the walls and

she began walking long and

 steady

   past the cruelty, past the rain, past time and

 up into the lovely slopes hard with dementia 

deepening so that now the forces of 

   the minefield were free to explore her thoughts

Author's Note

wip

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is why I haven't been successful in pursuing a longterm relationship in my 62 years of life. The first stages of exploration can be so tumultuous, that feeling of being tumbled about thru a maze of explorations & realizations . . . that's the complicated tumble (as described so well, the way you speak in imagery thru first 3 stanzas) that causes me to eventually bolt & run scared. I never get to the ending of your poem, when things calm down a bit & the discoveries feel less monumental. I can achieve contentment as a loner, but not as half of a couple (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[MidnightKingdom]

Very deep, I enjoy the imagry. You are good with words, ans I must say you impress me from what I've seen on here so far

[Perdition]

Appreciate that and thank you so much for stopping by and for the kind words.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

P. You are an amazing sentient being. “I could hear her distance”- by sound and intuition, yes. Your imagery etched on the soul- “My shades howled with the filth of a pleasant light”- beautiful paradox, sensual juxtaposition. You see her, hear her, feel her in a criss-cross of charged, explosive synapses...you rise and fall with her from the pinnacle to the abyss, dementia that will never deserve a capital letter. This work is a literary superlative.

[Perdition]

She is in all of us isn't she? That romance of the muse is a hard distance to hold as the closer poetry pulls us, the deeper we fall into its madness that struggles our ability to see this world as we have imagined it into a hard reality and you Annette are a perfect juxtaposition as well, the extended hand between depth and surface. Beautiful in mind and always caring in soul...thank you for this and your continuing friendship. I am flushed, blushed and broken with all that you perceive in my efforts to hold that hummingbird that we deem as poetry within our hands for only a brief moment for a wondrous alchemy...truly something.

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

OMG, I blush. If you think that about me, then I must be doing something right. Yes, the phantom muse- I sense her too when I am lucky. I wish I had your fine and creative mind, your skill and amazing talent my friend. But I will be content to read you and absorb your influence by osmosis. Now, rest that arm and hand! I’ve had both total wrist and partial shoulder reconstruction and I know how it makes one humble.😱🥴:))))

[Perdition]

Well of course you are doing something right and for the rest..well just not my nature to accept the slow healing orders of the medical field but for you I'll try...I AM way ahead of the healing pace and process so far by pushing these muscles/nerves into action but you never know..wanna throw some frisbee? Hahaha.Okay..I'll try and be good but no promises except to keep you informed of the progress regardless..deal? ;)

[Annette Pisano-Higley]

Deal!🤝👍🏼

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

Oh, and I'll take this as a WIP...wanna she if she turns into a pumpkin at midnight :P

[Perdition]

Wip..."Wondering If Pumpkin"...okay...gotcha;)

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

what is contentment really...that nerve block at 130...coffee at 5am...those thoughts that wake you in the night,,,when you've been running down corridors....playing in a madman's dreams?

[Perdition]

And listening with dark blindfolds...OH and bowling..lol.Thanks Queen...quite the morning huh?

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

I only listen with blindfolds...how else am I suppose to hear with all those wondrous creatures running past....Squirrel! wait! what? why are we bowling ?

[Perdition]

Contentment!...you truly worry me when I'm not listening.

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

keeps you on your toes and off that arm ...dont it?

[Perdition]

Without a question and the world so easily spins me through when you pull your tricky kind words so thank you a thousand times for that..as no doubt I wish I had the same gift ;)

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

pfft don't ya:)

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

YOu take that back my wheels dont squeak! I really dont like when you call me demented...it hurts my crazy :)

[Perdition]

And then the world crashed down into her inertia leaving the rabbits to rule all but their soft eared wills. BOOM!

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

ah....the pretty lights!

[Perdition]

Hahaha...indeed! And here we are without shoes...go figure.

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

wait! you wear shoes? Um deal breaker! Lights out for you! How am I suppose to run over your toes with my squeaky wheels? deplorable!!!!!

[Perdition]

Now exactly what shammy do you know that would ever curse the earth with such a separation as wearing something between sole and soil? Come on..lol.

[Gypsy Warrior Queen]

I know...they are hounding me...you should be wearing shoes...somehow it smothers my senses.lol