Blue Daze

Another prose poem. This one’s kinda weird. *Sorry I haven’t been posting much, will probably do more once I’m done with finals and what not.

Blue Daze
By Alira Cohen

The wolf opens its mouth, and I see it’s filled with sapphires and rabbits’ feet. Bright blue buds poke out from under the gums, and I know that he is a man beneath his animal skin. Under wolf’s skin is a hare, under hare’s skin is a fox, under fox’s skin is a jackal, under jackal’s skin is a lamb, under lamb’s skin is a man. A man who laughs like a boy, and stares at the treetops searching for birds. I look at him and wonder if I, too, could shed something away. We dance under a dripping sunset that drags us into the leaves above our flaming heads. I lose myself in the clouds of what it means to be here and to be feeling this. I don’t know what I am, I couldn’t tell him. Blue forms within me; am I disappearing into mold? Tearing off skins and scales, I try to become something new. Skin that is dry, skin that is wet. Flesh I’ve never seen before rises from me; I am the larger of two wolves. My wolf jaws are greater, though they feel small before his. I don’t know why. From man, to wolf, to woman, to hare, to reptile, to bear, to jackal, to fox, to lamb, to swine, to wolf, to man, to woman, to somewhere in between. My wolf is the larger of two wolves, but it shrinks when I see the bright blue buds sticking out from under his gums. We are human now, and our skins interlock. His blood joins mine and smiles possess my bitter human jaws. I don’t know what I am. Does he know what he is? I give him the benefit of the doubt. Rabbits’ feet escape his stomach, which reveals its teeth just for me. Poking my head inside, searching his intestines with my eyes, wondering if he feels me in there. No more rabbits’ feet. No more flames atop our heads. We separate, and crash into the ground. He shows me his smile.

Author's Note

If you’re going to leave a comment/review, please be respectful. Thank you. Hope you enjoy.

Reviews

[Aura]

woah, this makes it seem like this person is a shape shifter, I have to admit I was confused while reading but I made it through :) I like this distortion that the person feels, he goes from man to woman to wolf to .... who knows what else! makes me think of a shape shifter but could be more symbolic of the different types of personalities this person has, or the different masks they wear to different people. Or this person could have Disassociative Idenitity Disorder but I wouldn't entertain that idea. This was definitely a poem with a lot of different interpretations, I liked it.

[Alira]

Thanks !! This is a crazy one for sure, and I had a blast writing it even though it kinda made my head spin by the end. I’ve always liked imaginary associated with shape-shifting so I wanted to use a lot of that here, and I wanted to see if I could make a narrative that pushes how confused and conflicted the speaker feels. And I like your idea about the animals resembling different aspects of the speaker’s personality and different “masks” they put on; I was going for something like that but also wanted to leave it open. I’m glad you enjoyed it and I appreciate your comment!

[Aura]

Yes! The image of a shape shifter came into my mind alot, I think you executed that quite well. It was my pleasure to read

[Alira]

Thank you once again! I appreciate it 😄

[Aura]

You're welcome!

[_rabbitofhabit (1word)]

I really like this one. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I feel as though almost everything said here was cryptically symbolic. Like this is one of those works that doesn't make all too much sense unless you deep dive into the meaning of animals and so forth. I like the way the story is somewhat left up to interpretation, as well as the fact that the formatting almost makes the reader feel as disoriented as the character claims to be.

[Alira]

Yo, thanks! That (what you stated about causing disorientation in the reader) was my goal and it was definitely tricky to pull off; this was pretty ambitious, a lot like “Monster,” because it blended prose and poetry which I don’t do much. But unlike “Monster,” this was an assignment, so I really leaned into it. For sure one of the most surreal stories I’ve ever thought of, lol.