Map of Reunion

 

 

I understand there will be a time when I’ll feel in my gut

As food dissolves in its acid bath, broken pieces of sustenance

Catapulting through well-worn channels, the touch of knowing, heavy

And metallic:  bright pellets of acceptance, hot light, burnt into

Language of yes and good enough.  Talk did not help me

Nor the pages that write themselves in my mind, like etched epitaphs

Of normal.  I have devoured your voice, survived on it

For days, made it into rooms for thrones, for queens

In glorious cloaks of certainty.  After three decades  

of starvation, how now can I remember to chew?

In each of your silken exhales, can I teach myself

To breathe?  We couldn’t comprehend the topography of this terrain

The startling precipice of intimate and strange, alive

As your eyes, once diminished in a snapshot, now quick with want and pride.

Author's Note

Inspired by the work of Barbara Hamby - thank you for your brilliance.

Reviews

[Tomás Ó C..]

An enjoyable read...

[Dulce de Leche]

This is so beautifully intense.

I really enjoyed it.

[Troilus]

A poem as filled with eating and breathing--or as empty of eating and breathing-- leads this reader to wonder if the speaker of the poem has a gut full of emptiness or fullness. The language of "good enough" sounds more like an excuse than a satisfaction. In fact, this poem sounds like a necessary capitulation to forces so large that it has been absolutely necessary to capitulate in order to survive with a sane mind and the ability for further compassion. This poem is dark and deep and subtle . . . like the human heart; and just as lovely for it.

[X Lula X]

I was mesmerised reading this, but for me it was sewn together and spectacularly exploded apart all at once by that last line. The word 'snapshot' has been placed in such angelic and savage context. Gorgeous stuff.

*library favourite

[Chloe..Across the Unive..]

This is one great poem, Lydia.
So many great lines and the metaphors are really magnificent.
It reads well.. love it.

Chloe
xoxo

[Blackbirdsong]

Well whoever Barbara Hamby, thank you to her from me because she certainly inspired you. This is an amazing write. First of all - and also because I love enjambment - I LOVE how you enjambed the lines!!!! That was just brilliant, it gave the whole piece such a wonderful cascading flow, which of course worked well since it was like journeying through the poem; feeling the essense of all you anticipate "swallowing" in the future.

This was my favorite line - though in truth the whole poem is on its way to being on my favorite's list.

"I have devoured your voice, survived on it
For days, made it into rooms for thrones, for queens
In glorious cloaks of certainty. After three decades
of starvation, how now can I remember to chew?"

While I don't exactly know the relationship you're describing I can more than certainly relate to it.

Brilliant work here, my friend. Simply friend. I'd say "tasty treat," well guess I just did. :)

[G. Cedillo]

this is a very interesting piece, i may return to this - its growing late and i don't feel i can do it justice - i will say this, the words are nice, compact, and each fitting - i think some of the lines could be rearranged to flow a little easier (more in keeping with a continuous thought-image to help clarify and organize your ideas...it could read better, easier that way)
but other than that, thanks for sharing, good read -
. g - -