Andromeda

If you don't know who Andromeda is, you should look her up!

Andromeda

When they chained you to your post,
did you think of duty then,
stripped of your dignity
like spring lambs sheared of their wool
for the first time.
No. You did not. 
You fought with all the weapons of a woman;
you loosed your tongue and cried your tears
but still they betrayed you.
They tied your hands with callous chains
and pressed their shallow guilt againt
your naked breast.
And, when they had left you to the sea,
you turned your defiance on him,
but your anger cooled like a sword
freshly cast
and plunged into the bucket. 
You lowered your gaze and turned
your eyes to duty then;
when it was all you had.

Day One

Hey there, looks like I'm joining the blogging crowd! This could be fun and maybe having a place for all my writing will help inspire me. I suppose I should start with the origin of the title. It's from a poem I wrote in 2008, which I still have a soft spot for:

Orange Peel and Apple Pips

There must be more to life than this:
a winter wind and withered kiss
upon these frozen, sun-parched lips;
just orange peel and apple pips.

We're living on remains of death
with bottle caps, recycled breath,
and feeble rays of advent light
illuminate brash Beauty's blight.

There's less to love than fragile Rose
who blooms in seldom summer prose.
We're nothing more than drops and blips;
just orange peel and apple pips.

So that's what my older poetry looks like but what about more recent stuff? Well I haven't written a full poem in the last few months but I'll share a few of the scraps with you:

pip 1 (poem-in-progress)

I lived for death in its delicate decay,
of butterfly wings
hanging from the covetous ceiling,
of candle kisses for the moths;
fluttering obedience to their doom-
but now-
what is their now?
There is a boredom in my hollow of a chest,
lazy peepers no longer thrilled by my traps;
spider-webs

pip 2

If I am there before you

it's just to light your way

with stars enclosed in jam jars

and these large shoes

are making space for you

pip 3

There were phantoms in the air

or so my daddy said

and so I thought it true,

how wonderful,

with painted wings

and golden pictures in my head.

I climbed on churchyard tombs

and caught them in my hands

but then my daddy said to me

Don't look! Don't peek!

That's the only regulation

if you wanna reach salvation.

I'll admit it's not my way

to trust in fairy-tales

pip 4

Lost in the hollows of your mind

where creases mark the page-turn 

steps

     and 

         deeper

in I fear to

tred

      on littered, bauble-windowsills.

There was a structure here one time,

it used to lie as if asleep

in coma-toes epiphany - 

but then it woke;

it rose and breathed - 

and breathed me in.

pip 5

Those hands are phantoms on my keys,

their grasp as loose and insubstantial

as your mind.

You thought to write a poem perhaps,

a spider-web of verse so round-about

my waist - 

like a noose, like a hangman's noose. 

But your influence was so weak

it fell away with the sweat

of the summer heat - 

and where are you now?

Oh writer, oh legend -

where now?

lip 1 (lyrics in progress)

I'm sure you didn't mean it

but no, that's wrong

and if you didn't mean it

I wouldn't have a song.

That's looking for the good huh?

It's hard to find.

I was so much in love with you

and now I'm out my mind.

Oh angel, my angel,

the walls are crumbling down

and all the music's gone

to Halloween town.

Well! That's all for now but I should have something better for you next week. The task is to write a poem that links an image and a myth and we have to show-case it in class so I'll be working hard on it!

Heather xxx