Self Control

It's been awhile.

She keeps her emotions

in pretty Victorian scent bottles

corked tightly with sparkly crystal stoppers

and lines them up on shelves

like a shampoo display in the grocery;

stickers like price-tags denote their contents:

Love, Anger, Sadness, Pain, Hope

 

She dusts them daily

and occasionally takes one down,

holding it to the light to marvel at its

opalescent glow

 

Once in a great while she opens one --

waving the bottle before her face

to catch a brief whiff of the

fresh-mown-grass smell of Peace,

Fear's acrid musk,

the clean aroma of a just-washed child

that wafts from the bottle of Joy

 

In one moment of weakness

she nearly touched Passion's stopper,

damp with grapefruit scented liquid,

to the skin between her breasts,

but stopped herself, thinking the elixir

too dear to waste

Reviews

[J]

Ha, quirky. And I like quirky. And true for a lot of people, unfortunately, including myself a lot of the time.

The imagery and diction here is smooth-flowing and able to be grasped. Enjoyed this immensely.
J

P.S. I think you meant "too" in your last line =)

[W.k.kortas]

I concur with the learned Rob; the piece is constructed marvelously, the central conceit carrying through strongly (yet seemingly effortlessly) throughout the entire piece. Nicely visual and well-executed; a very strong piece of writing.

[Cdnsurfer]

OMG, she lives! How are you?

Wow! A wonderful extended metaphor. I loved the image of this woman, with her collection of glass bottles up on the shelf, a little afraid to open them and let the fragrances waste, but nostalgia takes hold and she feels the need to remember, to be in that moment of recollection. She fears passion, which is really too bad, since if she doesn't take the time to enjoy it, what's the point it having it on the shelf? The fear is not having passion, for she knows she has it bottled up on the shelf, it's all the associated feelings that are wrapped up in the smell, the good and the bad, that she fears.

Nice to see you back at it again, my friend. I've missed your poetry and chatting with you. Hope you are well. Cheers! Rob