Dazzle with Glitter

#2 in a series from the Blue Room.

I wish I could dazzle you with glitter.

I stand here feeling glazed and a bit jaded.

It’s a shame it can’t be faked…

To produce a good piece when the time comes,

Every time.

 

Point a finger and tell me to dance;

I can’t stay on strings though I’ve tried that.

When I change into my red dress

And feel sultry in the dim light,

Just for this one night.

I can’t help but remember even honeysuckle wilts on the vine.

 

Like a child, right now, I just want to go home for the holidays,

Back through the fog of time to warm Southern charm,

Everyone visiting everyone with dish in hand,

Warm breezes blowing through open French doors

    while we drink spiced tea swirling with the smells of the holidays:

        cinnamon and spice and everything nice

To go with the soft drawl of good conversation

       with people I’ve known all my life.

I want to remember Christmases wrapped in

      warmth and everything familiar:

A handmade wreath on the door,

Cut glass bowls on the dining room table

       filled with camellia blooms.

“Come help cut flowers,”

Scissors in my mother’s gloved hands,

Bundles of red, pink and white fresh from the yard.

 

I was too young to know then,

That family and friends ease into the distant past.

Even the memories are stale,

Taking on the hue of sepia-toned antiques,

Mounted in gold leaf frames

Collecting dust.

 

So it’s time for me to get a Brass Monkey from the bar

And find a table so I can listen to youth and vigor

Spilling over with uninhibited enthusiasm.

Someone whose time is now,

And whose pictures are not yet faded.

 

Reviews

[Antony]

To say you no longer can dazzle with glitter is giving up hope and that is not a good thing, this poem sure dazzles me, because you poured your heart into it and I could feel your feeling of the light fading, like all hope is gone, like it is time to pass the pen to a younger generation, I think you are so wrong to feel this way, you have written so many wonderful pieces and maybe they don't always capture the new and younger writer, but that doesn't really matter because the art form of your writing has already been cast in stone and this is how the younger generation learns to put words on paper that tells a story. This poem captured a time and place that has stayed in your mind, and your expression of it was penned so well. You just keep on writing, it is what you do best.
Tony

[R J Askew]

I like the 'live now' strand in this and the instinct to avoid sinking inot the sepia of things. Has to be the right attitude. Like 'sultry' and 'cinnamon' which are, for me trigger words for something sensuous. And the line in the piece for me is 'To go with the soft drawl of good conversation' because I feel as if I might be evesdropping on chit-chat in the southern states where I have never been before, save in my reading. Also like the flip into the past to snip the blooms and the colours they add to the poem. The red dress seems to be a kind of bloom also. Like the yearning to be with youth and vigour in the last verse. Ach, picture frames begin to feel like prison cells where we are sent after we fade from life. Bugger that! ................... like title too...always like verbs in titles and at start of lines, esp first lines, though i suppose dazzle could be a noun here, but feel sure you used it as a verb.

[Michael X]

wow, this is breathtaking, the way your thoughts opened
each stanza set powerful medium, clarity defined, i could
see the whole event playing out, as each word sculpted
an image which added detail to the vision, i love the way
each stanza set itself as a mainframe supporting thought
to the structure of the vision, pure eloquence, a most
impressive writing, moving, passionate very intropspective,
the way your thoughts where charactering a dramatical,
theatrical effect, could bring tears to the heart. i would
love to rave on this poem all day, loved it, "dazzle with glitter"

[Genie]

As melancholy as this is, your words are eloquent and evoke my own memories of Southern holidays and gatherings. Every Christmas I pull some of them out as I decorate -- and even as I move farther north and do less and less decorating, the Southern pieces and images always stay.

As good poets should, you've set me to pondering, and I wonder if our youthful glittering doesn't mellow out to a warm glow of wisdom instead, infusing the exhuberance of youth with a depth and richness that they'll remember and keep coming back to ... Indeed, I wonder if that's how I intuited my own elders as a child and why they mean so much to me even still???

Beautiful and, obviously, very meaningful!

[TL Boehm]

there is that soulful melancholy here, yet such a vibrance comes from your words - they hum on the page. I have to admit I'm dazzled and a bit homesick now for a southern christmas....I found this poem beautifully written.

[Kelley Pascoe]

This hit the spot Mimi(smile) It did make me feel a little down because I too am missing family and friends.
Anyway great write and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a bright New Year.
Kelley Frost

[*** Hey Jude***]

You My S.I.S. always dazzle; and continue to. You eloquently take me to a place of warm hopes, for past lessons learned, to glory of each day, and our everlasting hope for the future! Peace and blessings be with you ~ Judi xo

[Lydia Shutter]

The poignancy of this poem brought tears to my eyes. You have touched on all the senses here with the sound of southern drawled voices, the smells of spiced tea, the sights of the cut glass bowls and handmade wreaths, and the tastes of the food in the covered dishes. The holidays of long ago are now nothing but nostalgic gems in our crown of memories. Were they that good? I believe they were. This poem touched me. Lydia

[Pema Dorje]

Wondrous write ... the time of diminishing where we murmur lost in highlighted memories meandering foolishly in lost time... you've captured this all too Human plaint brilliantly... yes, we thrive when dancing with the youth who need our cautious wisdom as we their brave new world -- together our Hearts ageless in wondrous awe!

[Angelheaded Hipster]

This has an almost bittersweet feel to it...I read it slowly, and I could see the old photos in my mind...you have a great ability of capturing Southern Grace....if there is such a thing anymore...