Monday, March 15, 2010

Call Me Ishmael

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She beckons me like Ahab.
This particular girl
dropped anchor at my door,
.
seeking a great white,
harpooned and wired
in my whirlpools of night.
.
Odd quickstep.
Her insomniac dance
marks time on my floor,
deck of the Pequod.

Lamp oil gone and no wick,
her windless sails hang thick
with sulphurous air.

She laughs in the dark,
lit only by the folly of revenge
and St. Elmo's fire.
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willow, 2010
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For more Magpie Tales participants, click [HERE].

68 comments:

  1. Highly evocative Willow. Beautifully done.

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  2. Beautiful poem, Willow. Full of imagry, as always.

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  3. Most intriguing. Lovely somber imagery.

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  4. But I gotta say I love that third comment!

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  5. Sounds like smooth sailing to me!

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  6. Vicki, those Viagra peddlers pop in the moment I post. Clever little buggers.

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  7. Deleted it, now your's is the third comment, Vicki! hee

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  8. wow willow. evocative is the right word...dropped on your door now laughing from the shadows...

    mine will be up this afternoon...your prompts seem to be pulling me to a darker side...

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  9. sad that i missed the third comment though...smiles.

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  10. Spoilsport! But don't worry, Brian, I saved it a split second before Willow deleted it and will be doing a post on it later in the week. It totally tickled my sense of the absurd!

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  11. Hi Willow
    I'm back after being away for too long from everybody's blog! I do love the new Magpiety header, and of course today's poem is gorgeous...
    Smiling about the mysterious viagra-themed 3rd comment, but will have to visit Vicki's future blogpost to find out more, I guess! :)

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  12. Dear Willow, It is positively years since I read Moby Dick and even more years since I saw the film with, if I recall correctly, Gregory Peck [although this may be my memory playing tricks]. Whatever, the poem revived pleasant childhood memories.

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  13. Oh dear Willow I had the Viagra comments out the wazoo. I finally did no anonymous and comment moderation. It only had it on one of my blogs which I though was strange. The poem is so appropriate and guides my mind to the story also. Having trouble with this prompt.I am in the process will just see where it goes.
    QMM

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  14. I wonder how many posters will follow the same theme as you and I both have. Mine will be up later after I examine it some more. Love your poem.

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  15. nice writing willow!!! steven

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  16. As deep as the wild Atlantic.
    The extended metaphor works very well.

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  17. Is this your ghost visiting you, Willow? Lovely use of words here.

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  18. i wonder what musical melody plays as the seduction unfurls? a highly picturesque entanglement Ms Willow!!

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  19. Yes yes yes, your blog is just soooo wonderful and gives me a lot of energy!

    A footprint from Sweden by Agneta

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  20. Brush with Color, yes, my resident ghost was the inspiration here!

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  21. Just love it, Willow! Such visual impressions captured in a line of verse. Beautiful prompt photo... where does it live at your house??

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  22. Sun Dance, it actually lives in my kitchen.

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  23. Your writing is very moving.

    I almost heard the squeel of a whale.

    yvonne

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  24. wonderful, wonderful -- brings back Moby Dick and the silent voice of women throughout...

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  25. I wish I wrote poetry as well as you, my dear Willow

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  26. Ahhh...... Ahab lives on and still he beckons!
    Intense and sad.. lovely poem.

    Christine

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  27. How do you do it, Willow? I try and I try and am left with frustration.

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  28. Lovely poem. That prompt reminded me of a prize-winning poem I wrote in college. (I say that with my chest all puffed out because that's the only prize I've ever won for poetry). The subject matter disturbed me then & disturbs me now - which I think is why it was considered a good effort. Perhaps I'll post it tonight. Or perhaps not. We'll see!

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  29. Yes, Bug, please do post it! I can't wait to read it. If it applies to this prompt, sign up for Magpie Tales!

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  30. ...wired in my whirlpool of night..
    what an image! You just keep coming up with this stuff!!

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  31. Nice Poem Willow

    Mysterious --and darkly romantic,

    Have to check out Vicki Lanes blog to see what she does with the missing phases.

    Joanny

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  32. One of the best poems yet, Willow. Striking.

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  33. Wow, such a fascinating picture painted with deftly wielded words.

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  34. Insomniac dance...she is a nocturnal lady.

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  35. Wow! You are deep here but beautifully written!! Have you ever set the fingers a certain way at night and then the next morning they are different?... yikes!
    :) The Bach

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  36. Bach, actually, I have seen them different the next day. Great idea. I must test them tonight!

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  37. Well, the language in this poem makes me want to steal it! Strong, visceral, haunting. Love the rhyme, very seductive.....

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  38. I love the imagery. Willow you are so gifted in the capturing of words. I am blessed you share.

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  39. Willow, you brought history and classics together and alive in this poem! If only I could.....

    Really moved by the line "...lit only by the folly of revenge..."

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  40. All right - I did it. And I linked it. Yikes.

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  41. Crazy, but I'm having visions of dancing skeletons illuminated by the moon in the Manor kitchen.

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  42. Full of whirling imagery. Nice. -Jayne

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  43. willow, I so admire your ability to craft a poem so full of intrigue and promise and literary references. JT

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  44. beautiful
    well written
    and most enjoyable to read

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  45. Funny, the minute I read the title it reminded me of my friend's band which is called the exact same thing: Call Me Ishmael. I loved the imagery that you used. You have such a way with history. I never did like it in school much so I'm sure I have missed lots of important things in my time. I am learning from you now though. That's all that matters.

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  46. Teri, oh that's amazing! A name of a band?! Kinda cool. Who knew?

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  47. A haunting poem.Literally. Blows through me the wind through a curtain.

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  48. Fascinating courtship, with a soundtrack of furious froth and sea moans.

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  49. You've done it again Willow. I love your language. I am gently envious. Again a piece to be savoured. I will return.
    Sad to hear of your loss.

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  50. Really, really nice poem and most interesting take on the photo/object.

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  52. Wow, willow. I've read this again and again and get a new meaning, a new image and a new sound each time.

    You recently said that you've been away from the sea too long. If I were Herman Melville I would gratefully drop by and take you there myself...

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  53. Ah, the ghost! Beautiful--lyrical and mesmerizing...

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  54. Hello Willow,

    One ought to know "one of the most famous opening lines in American literature" (Wikipedia) but I didn't until now! I love every dark, mysterious thing about this poem Willow!

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  55. reading this over and over savoring it.

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  56. i find this romantically dark...and wonderful.
    your writing is exquisite.

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  57. ' Mimi,your tiny hand is wooden'
    'get real Rudolpho,it's frozen..
    La Boheme..remember?'

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  58. Yes! I wish I'd thought of the La Boheme take on this! I'm surprised no one else did, either.

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  59. Very interesting and unexpected linking of disparate images here. But then love is madness - is it not? I liked this poem very much.

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  60. How lovely! You are a very talented writer Willow!

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  61. Excellent! I Enjoyed this, thank you for sharing…
    …rob
    Image & Verse

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  62. Capt. Ahab and Moby Dick are sailing again with the flick of a hand...very nice. I don't know how you pulled that one together but very well written!

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  63. Wonderful images and mood building Willow. I love the parallel stories - adds so much depth.

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  64. I love it. It's exciting and intriguing.

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  65. oh I have much to catch up on here . Not skimmable at all. If that is even a word.
    wonderful wonderful

    thank you Willow.

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  66. Nice image to go with your poem. Have you seen A Very Long Engagement? There's a great scene with a mechanical wooden hand. You'd like it.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)