Where people only go to work and from which they come away again at night

Cherry

By lavadis

Sat, 25 Jun 2016
  • 947 reads
1 comments
 

 

 

He threw his newspaper 

and seasick green rucksack 

on to the station concourse,

grabbed the knot of my tie
and slapped me across the face
with an open palm
 
Cromarty sea state slight or moderate, occasionally rough at first in the north
 
My right eyebrow unzipped 
emptying itself
like an upturned ink pot
into my eye
before his fist 
smashed my cheekbone 
into the shape of a
tessellating children's puzzle
 
North Utsire cyclonic 4 or 5
decreasing 3 at times
moderate or good 
visibility very poor
 
My legs collapsed
and the glass ladder of reality
shattered 
as I clawed for rungs 
that were no more than 
vicious stubs
and slid 
and slipped
 
Trafalgar wind Northerly 5 or 6
occasionally 7 later
becoming variable 
4 at times in far southeast
 
'Fucking die, fucking die'
sang his slavering skull mask
as his right heel claw-hammered
metronomically 
conducting the symphony 
of disfigurement 
until everything inside me 
was as contorted
as the geology of my first lie 
 
Forties southwesterly force 8 to storm 10, 
occasionally violent storm 11, perhaps hurricane force 12 later in northwest

Sea State high becoming very high, occasionally phenomenal later in north
 
The noise began shortly after the storm ended
incredibly loud, 
shrieking,
accompanied by a roar
which became 
so much a part of me 
you would think 
it was impossible 
for it ever
to be disentangled
 
it was a grand and quiet sound 
a distant door
which slams
like a roll of thunder 
Certificate 18
Poem
Poetry
Fantasy

Comments

Submitted by Philip Sidney on

The violence is sickening, but I guess that's the point.  You take us to the eye of the storm, the ebbing away a relief.