Tag / relationships

by Carol J Forrester

Downward Path – #NaPoWriMo Day Five

We did not so much fall as…

saunter vaguely downwards,

wrapped up in each other.

 

You brought the sky along,

strung like a child’s balloon.

We did not so much fall as…

 

Drifted like seeds let loose,

wandered a little lost,

wrapped up in each other.

 

Settled, we marked here

a strip of green we’d found,

we did not so much fall as…

 

Play house and families.

Make believe until made real,

wrapped up in each other.

 

Whispered this is what souls

are made of.

We did not so much fall as

wrap up in each other.

 

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Day Five’s prompt is to include one of the following (1) the villanelle form, (2) lines taken from an outside text, and/or (3) phrases that oppose each other in some way.

Now I’m aware that this is not a perfect Villanelle. I was halfway through the draft before I’d realised that I’d forgotten about the rhyming scheme but since I’m not a fan of rewriting to make something rhyme I decided to just run with what I had.

The lines taken from an outside text are “did not so much fall as saunter vaguely downwards” (Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett ‘Good Omens’) and “whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same” (Emily Bronte ‘Wuthering Heights’). I didn’t quote the second exactly as I couldn’t quite work out how to without wrenching the tone of the poem completely.

*In addition, the Good Omens quote also fits nicely with phrases that oppose each other in some way, so two birds, one stone, two prompts, one quote.

 

 

 

by Carol J Forrester

Slowly Goes By So Quick – #NaPoWriMo Day Three

Does it count as taking your time,

pausing between each item

fingers on clasps,

heartbeat a tempo dancing

beneath the skin

in a skip, skip rhythm

I felt against my breastbone.

 

Slid my foot along the seat

of a chair like the one I sat in,

bare skin cold

against the plastic.

 

Counted the buttons,

two,

four,

six,

stopped

when they ran out

and fabric hung loose

from my shoulders.

 

Open.

 

Parted my thighs the same,

slow,

or maybe fast,

the motion of it blurred

in memory

distracted by your face

close to mine.

 

Open

mouthed.

 

Kissed you,

slowly.

 

Open legs.

 

I won’t say what we did

next.

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by Carol J Forrester

Blame Game #DVersepoets #Poetics

So I blamed you,

because it was easy,

sweeter on the tongue.

Didn’t have the bite

of admitting

I could have been wrong.

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I’ve just been writing up three longish poems so I felt something short and sweet was in order tonight.

by Carol J Forrester

Safe Keeping – #Quadrille #DVersePoets

I’ve kept all the pieces of you that I could find.

Stored them safely,

wrapped away

in a box somewhere hidden and warm,

until I can remember how the puzzle goes

and slot you back into yourself,

a little more fragile perhaps

but whole again.

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by Carol J Forrester

Love Song

I do not love you like the ocean,

I’m much too scared of drowning.

Instead I love you like a battered paperback,

small enough to pocket

on walks from dorm rooms to lecture halls.

I love like the blanket my housemate bought me,

too pink to be polite

but a soft cucoon against my skin

warm on cold winter nights.

I love you like anything that can be forgotten

tucked away or to one side,

but hangs around in the quiet moments

still very much alive.

I do not love you like life itself,

but I love you a little like breath.

In the same way that I do not think about it,

in the same way that to not would be nonsense

in the same way that I don’t know how to stop

without the pressure in my chest building

to a point where I think I might shatter me pieces.

I suppose I love you a little like breathing.

I do not love you like the ocean though.

With you I have never been afraid of drowning.

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