Animal Dreams

Cherry

By shoe

Sun, 07 Aug 2011
  • 2779 reads
12 comments
 

"if you want sweet dreams,
you've got to live a sweet life"

Animal Dreams
Barbara Kingsolver

There's a clump of long grass
padded into a hollow, snug as any warbler's nest
Here, she curves her china spine into an ammonite
Birds come and go, she watches them intently
but does not move, save to squint out the sun

There is an opening in the brambles
through which she passes
to, I know not where
A lifetime of proving independence
is not relinquished easily
This may be her last summer
She does not know this

Later, the cold
- I lie to myself it's affection-
drives her to my knee
Her scapulas jut under my hand
Weathered plaster, brittle as honeycomb
She motors to the kitchen on greenstick legs
trusting me to interpret her demands
- to be honest they all sound the same to me -
feed me, let me out, let me in, she looks preplexed
or dissappointed that I cannot stop the rain

Selfishly, I want her to have this winter
To hoard her to myself, safely shut inside
appeasing her with a crumb of cheese, a teaspoon of milk
Gentle her wickerwork frame as it rumbles
and she unsheaths her claws in semi-dreaming
unlike a dog, she dreams quietly, privately
She has had a sweet life.

Certificate U
Poem
Through the square window
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by Highhat on
This is really good Shoe ;)Pia

Submitted by Silver Spun Sand on
It's beautiful, and so very poignant. Tina

 

Submitted by RachelPatricia on
Absolutely loved this, shoe! That opening stanza - WOW. 'Here, she curves her china spine into an ammonite' - that is beautifully worded imagery if ever I've seen it :) Well done on the cherry, such a tender and moving read, Rachel xx

Submitted by shoe on
Thank you all very much.

 

Submitted by Stevehawk on
I liked this very much, well done.

Submitted by barryj1 on
When I first came to abctalce.com I refused to read a single word of poetry for the first three or four months logically assuming that the poetry here was every bit as BAAAAAD as the mind-numbing blather offered on most other literary websites. Boy was I wrong! The poets here - and you're clearly poised at the top of the list along with some incredible versifiers - take a back seat to no one! The imagery and choice of language took my breath away. This absolutely beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful poem scrupulously offers the reader everything required and not a single, solitary word more. And I wasn't going to say anything???

barryj1

Submitted by ScoZen on
With the rest on this one shoe. Truly delightful and most worthy of a cherry.
ScoZen

Submitted by shoe on
Hi Barry, you are much too kind!! though I'm glad you do read the poetry on here, there's so much good stuff, which gives me something to aspire to, is there a poet in you waiting to get out I wonder? Stevehawk and Scozen, thanks for reading, much appreciated.:}

 

Submitted by barryj1 on
So I read this poem and later at night I'm lying in bed thinking about the geriatric cat. Then I get up the next morning and I'm still thinking about 'Animal Dreams'. Then my daughter is testing for her skating competition in Rhode Island so I drive her there and she passes (just barely, because one judge out of three says she missed a spin move). The I come home and I'm still thinking about this exquisite poem. So I turn on the internet and bring it back up on the screen just to see what all the fuss is about and I realize that it's actually far better than I originally thought. Animal dreams is a poem in a class all its own. In answer to your original question, I used to write poetry and even was published in a few respectable academic quarterlies. But I prefer the short story format. I'll leave poetry to writers such as yourself who can do the medium justice.

barryj1

Submitted by Cavalcader on
new shoe Well deserved cherry! Like the first stanza. but especially the way you have told poem story. As most have said. Good see your writing. hope all is well for you. julie x

Submitted by Cavalcader on
new Barryj1 Hello! Barry, Rhode Island. Wow! What's the weather like? Yes they are very hot on judging exams ice skating, used to skate when little, Brighton big ice rink, which we lost,and had a smaller one, never re-placed year's now big one, Ice hocky player's as well. I couldn't do spins, and jumps, just foreward and back and ready spin. Shame never built another one all those years back......Do you have a geriatric cat then Have a restful day Yep! everything completly new to me, when I first came on AbcTales. Cerainly wasn't going to chat! now I do. So much help from all. To read other's helps me. And Editor's help. Didn't think I could do any. Just sopem I had from writing gropu, and homeless centre all ages. And comp; put them on for AbcTales. Then no idea anything. And the cherries. comments. punctaution, no good at. Try all now. cavalcaderl julie

Submitted by scratch on
It's all been said shoe. But that's never stopped me before! Imagery, word choice, poetic narrative, duality between the two and the whole thing wrapped in a dream sequence. This combined with my own preference for natural observation of the natural world. Animal poems figure highly in my stuff as I'm sure that you have seen. Great submission and thanks for sharing.