Sunday, March 2, 2014

Magi



Natives, Slavs, dark Irish, moan
for elsewhere, sigh like an accordion
they hover with snake eyes,
offer melancholy and vodka.

Smoke rises from their pipes,
twists the many places before
with all the next stations
part boxcar, part gypsy wagon.

They swaddle in babushka, braid bone
in my hair, rock me in peat and hay,
croon lullabies of painted roses.
I am colicky―sleep takes a long time.

I dream of conjurers, hypnotists
whispering  a distant star
a scent of madness and resin candles,
the raven-smooth face of the Black Madonna. 



tk/March 2014



R.A.D. Stainforth melts my words like candle wax... 





*The Sleeping Gypsy, 1897, by Henri Rousseau

27 comments:

  1. Lovely page,great literary references to gypsies.....the vodka is felt.

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  2. Ah, this…dark Irish and peat. Guaranteed to warm the cockles o' my heart. And it also made me think of "Magdalena" by A Perfect Circle, with its Black Madonna thread.

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  3. A feel of 'melting pot' in your poem in good meaning I think....do you know 'babushka' means the grandma in Russian...

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  4. Love the simile, "sigh like an accordian-"

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  5. Now you have me dreaming of conjurers! I loved your line: "sigh like an accordion." I feel like I'm a gypsy after reading this. (I love gypsy things!) And the Black Madonna, wow!

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  6. I really love this it has a great dreamlike quality, thick with romance.

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  7. Sighing accordions ? I thought they 'wheezed' ? lol ♥

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  8. wonderful poem of this image from a babes point of view.

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  9. Love the feel of this piece ... the transience of searching and being 'put up' and given hospitality that is comforting as well as unsettling ... good job on this ... different from so many other of your works!

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  10. They are perpetual travelers often mistaken for being trouble makers. Recognizing them is a problem. Dressing might tell. In any case they have been stereo-typed as the first suspects of crime. Pity! Nicely Tess!

    Hank

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  11. It is enchanting to read and listen to.

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  12. I love that last line! I couldn't decide if that was a male or a female Gypsy. Knowing Rousseau, I'd guess female, but the arms looked male so I went with that. I don't suppose it matters.

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  13. ..You will always be the mysterious Kate Bush of poetry for me !
    So well done

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  14. Love the exotic feel of your poem, Tess!

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  15. R A D Stainforth with a beard!

    Poetry or a visual offering? I drowned in both.

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  16. Wow. Loved that first stanza especially, pulled me right in.

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  17. I always enjoy reading your take on the picture the first lines pulled me in as I wanted to see where the poem would go.

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  18. WoW! That was pretty exquisite..........as is RAD's beard!!

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  19. As you do each week, "whispering distant stars." Beautiful.

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  20. some nice images incorporated: the booze, the wandering spirit, femininity, Africa

    much love...

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  21. This is a great piece. I liked the way you chose to go with it.

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  22. Rock me away, your words place me right there among the smoke and spirits wandering deep within.

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  23. oh wow, reading the amazing imagery and detail is like taking a walk into someone else's dream, quite hypnotizing! your work always blows me away, miss tess! another lovely poem!

    stacy lynn mar
    http://warningthestars.blogspot.com/

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  24. You keep quite the company in your dreams!

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  25. I appreciate you taking the time to read/watch/listen...and for your kind comments, dear readers...

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