Sunday, August 11, 2013

Bolero



The turntable of my mind
is set to schizophrenic repeat.
It plays all night.

Nonchalant dancers in Carmen-style shoes
stamp hundreds of cockroaches
in the Royal Albert Hall.

The audience watches.

They hop in preoccupied rhythm
with unchanging snare drums,

grip roses in their mouths,
all wide-eyed and wild,
bared teeth mistaken for smiles.



tk/August 2013


Many thanks to R.A.D. Stainforth for masterfully reading this poem. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

27 comments:

  1. ...quite a long night, and too many cockroaches to stamp on with... what fun! my spirit was like suddenly transported in your setting with some jovial friends from Calalini... loved this.... smiles...

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  2. I was taken to the 7,000 seater, Royal Albert Hall and heard the clicking on the boards. The wild Spanish invasion. Excellent!

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  3. That should say clacking! More effective!

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  4. I love the sense of illusion and deceit... roaches in a palace... grimaces camouflaged as smiles... Like it.

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  5. The second I read the title of your poem, Ravel and his masterpiece consumed my thoughts. I have it playing as I'm typing this comment ~~~ love where you took the challenge. Off to listen to Mr. Stainforth now.

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  6. Love "schizophrenic repeat" and the last line is so enigmatic!

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    Replies
    1. Mr. Stainforth should have ended with a rose in his mouth! :) Yet he does look a little wild eyed (and wild haired) as if he has just got done dancing himself!

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    2. I'm giggling at the thought of a rose in his mouth...

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  7. it's not a dancehall
    it's a battleground

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  8. A most entertaining poem. But should the flamenco dancer be unkind to cockroaches?

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  9. I love the sinister undertone of this. Brilliant write.

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  10. i like the different dance terminology that you use

    Dance to the Moulin Rouge

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  11. Shrewd and rather wise. Beautifully done.

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  12. And soon will they stone her ?

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  13. Spanish dancers stomping out cockroaches got me. And maybe that is why all the wild stomping.

    I have had nights like your poem. Nice descriptions.

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  14. A lovely poem with wonderful phrases!

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  15. "Nonchalant dancers in Carmen-style shoes
    stamp hundreds of cockroaches
    in the Royal Albert Hall."

    I have always suspected that there was more to clogging than just dancing.

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  16. That second stanza is a killer! LOL

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  17. They sure got rhythm...Rockettes, watch out!

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  18. A passionate flow and feel for a sensuous piece of music

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  19. I love the cockroach stamping!

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  20. Amazingly entertaining! I'm on the cockroach stamping ground, I am......!

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