The Dull Edge Of The Knife-like Night

Inspired by Eilis

I walk the dull edge of the

knife-like night

broken husked

under a waning moon

life overspilling

seeping

from my impetigo skin

I walk the dull edge of the

knife-like night

disjointed bones

like Cuban heels

marching off to war

mind bleeding

unthinking reality streak

I walk the dull edge of the

knife-like night

barefoot and rampant

wanting things sharper

blurred vision

lied to by

Tequila and god

the dull edge lulls

the knife-like night

slashes/burns

the waning moon

stretches, sleeps

Reviews

[Chris Shaw]

I am left thinking, if you have walked that path, have lived it, have slept it, have drunk it and all the rest that goes with it, how can you really completely break free of it? Better times would still have it lurking in the memory. Coming back to grab your heels and bite you. Strong write gram. Impetigo skin, truly descriptive.

Chris

[gram linski]

thanks Chris, Eilis did all the hard work, I just didn't get much sleep, lol,

[Chris Shaw]

She certainly inspires gram. Good read.

[barleygirl]

I was never one to roam the mean streets at night, but I worked graveyard a fair number of years, so I got a good view of those who dance such midnight jigs. I love the mood of your poem, which matches the mood I always felt when it seemed everyone else in the world was sleeping peacefully in a comfy home setting, but not me. Third verse especially well-crafted! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[gram linski]

I've worked the graveyard shift myself and it is the grimmest thing, and no sleep in daylight too, but I have also haunted midnight freely with pleasure, it is my time of night,

[Cherrie Palmer]

This would make an excellent play.

The blades edge a hard place to retreat from. What do you do from there, those souls seldom make good librarians.

[gram linski]

Cheers Cherrie, but they do seem to read weird and wonderful books, lol

[Eilis]

I always want to ask questions at the end of your poems. Not like you haven't offered enough for me to bring it all together--just that I want to know more about the story. Of course, I don't ask...because I'm not going to break through that wall between the art and the reality. Poetry is not there to explain (in my estimation anyway)--more to offer in sacrifice or open a window.

This felt like both of those things to me. I particularly liked how you took that line from my poem and made it the center (the refrain)...it feels like a mantra in a way. Interesting to think of it in that way because it is a painful admission in this context...feels like a last-man-on-earth kind of thing where the speaker is literally walking the dull edge of some precarious cliff--somewhere where none of us wish to be treading.

But, there is a sense of strength that underlies it all intermixed with all of the other intrusions of environment and experience. Almost like the narrator is challenging the darkness. And of course the 'who gives a s**t' intrusion of nature at the end. That damn moon just settling in above the scene...looking on just the same at every triumph and tragedy. I just had a vision of some of the things the moon might have seen. Leaving that image at the door.

Really cool to read this one, Gram. I love to see how words translate one head to another. Excellent.

[gram linski]

Thanks, Eilis the line sounded very bleak and desolate, last man standing, and at times it is a lonely walk through the journey of night, cheers for the inspiration,

[jacob erin-cilberto]

life is sometimes a blur...forgetful nights lost...we wonder of lost space and time...
we want clarity, purpose.
i love the image of the "dull edge of the knife-like night"
and i really like how the moon stretches like a cat...and then sleeps...

wonderful imagery here, gram.
j.

[gram linski]

Hey, j. that line is a killer, that's from Eilis, should check out the rest of the poem, that's the one that wormed it's way into my head and got me thinking, cheers

[LitStar]

this is pretty bad a*s

the formula really drives it to the close

[gram linski]

Thanks LitStar, glad you enjoyed,

[emmajoy]

Life's hell for some - whether for real or filtering the imagination, yes? Your incredibly visual language turns away from any example of kindness, from any form of relief. Phrase after phrase the reader is assailed to the point of guilt, from not being able to help. But then.. sighhh, in hale, deep breath .. must.be nightmare slowly, slowly fades. Whether or not such experiences haunt you, or, perhaps life throws its pain into erratic sleep, who's to know. Perhaps not even you.

[gram linski]

Wow, thanks emmajoy, I think you thunk about this more than I, cheers for the great review,

[Eilis]

Yay! I’m looking forward to reading this more deeply as soon as I can. First read: it hurts, but in the best ways poetry does that. I’ll be back.

[gram linski]

Thanks again, Eilis, hope you don't think I'm a cheeky f****r, stealing your words, I genuinely love being inspired by you guys, I've done it a few times, it's a true homage,

[Eilis]

No, not at all, I love that you were inspired by the line to write your own poem. Sorry I didn’t express that. I think it’s great when us poets can inspire each other.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

Don't listen to 'E' he doesn't know shite when he sees it! Only kidding but stop writing so much as I have to drag your brutal words like wire wool through my neurons each time. Another very interesting piece as you weave concepts and drunken stupors into the mix.

[gram linski]

Me and Mr. E. have discussed physics and poetry long into the night, he is an excellent writer, only kidding, (only kidding, E),

[Einstein Noodle]

damn! and i thought i tossed and turned all night :) neatly packaged experience, gram ... i think the repetition is particularly strong ... i like the journey from Cuban heels to barefoot especially ... they were the thing for young boys in the 60s ;) a lot of inferred pain, difficult life ... just enough to make me feel it
E.
ps. great closing says i!

[gram linski]

Top o' the morning, E, great review, says I, cheers,

[Einstein Noodle]

and the rest of the day to you sir! :)