She'll do it neat
surgically quick
Lavoris-clean in white shoes
like a 1960s doctor
rendering him lobscouse
Capote-cold blood overhead
like an icky red umbrella
fresh fodder for ants and crows
left crusted in poison ivy
for the American Pickers to find
she drives off
in a Lyndon Johnson limousine
to a quiet destination for a smoke
it feels good...
but his eyes are open
looking at her
like she just stole his bicycle
Tess Kincaid
August, 2011
reading: the excellent R.A.D. Stainforth, Black Dogs
image: Red Umbrella, Christopher Shay
the words contagious...the voice of the reader perfection....love.
ReplyDeleteR.A.D. Stainforth is amazing...he really breathes life into my words...
ReplyDeleteExquisite! Makes me want a cigarette...and to watch my back.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that Stainforth lit up, before beginning to read?
ReplyDelete[every word, every verse, soft and intense at the same time ... as clear as enigmatic!]
ReplyDeleteLeonardo B.
Tess,
ReplyDeleteAs macabre as a sailor's stew.
Bob, I'm glad you appreciate "lobscouse"...
ReplyDeletelove it,
ReplyDeletewell done,
you have brought her to life.
There seems to be a lot of darkness
ReplyDeleteemotionally going on with this
wanna'be fem fatale, and of course
it is food for thought as to how
much of this event is mental,
and how much might, or could,
or did happen; delicious and
macabre conundrum. As for the
fellow here, /his eyes are open/
but he definitely is not seeing.
Stainforth continues to put that
extra zing in your language.
she stole his bicycle,
ReplyDeletewow.
love the details in your magpie.
perfect plot.
Cello...well...she didn't actually steal his bicycle...
ReplyDeletestole his bicycle...ha...love it..and great language...lobscorse? need to look that one up...
ReplyDeleteperfect pic too to complete my story...
Ha, I took it as a man walking away. My entry will sure sound silly. I really liked the tone of this and images. Icy cold scary. Like when your beter half says she forgives you too quickly and calmly. Enjoyed this much!!!!
ReplyDeleteMove over Alfred Hitchcock. I had to look lobscouse up. Did you just know it in your inner lexicon?
ReplyDeleteagain a wonderful reading. you two make a great team!
i really really like this photo. it is evocative, melancholy. hope something will rise up for me from this.
ReplyDeleteSuki, a friend of mine recently introduced me to the word "lobscouse"...new words excite me and I feel compelled to use them in my poetry...
ReplyDeleteWhat about that luscious old car sitting right there! -I was tempted, but no cigar- cheers.
ReplyDeleteI'll never look at a red umbrella the same again.
ReplyDeleteNeither will I...
ReplyDeletePerfect rendition of lobscouse. 'Lobscouse'?
ReplyDeleteInstances of flashbacks enhanced the mystery of the man 'in the rain with a red umbrella ' Beautiful verse!
Hank
Hank...I've been calling you "Kay"...glad to know you are Hank.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the details and images!
ReplyDeleteGads! That is one sexy inhale!
ReplyDeleteI think I want to see the movie - or read the novel anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteExcept I would probably close my eyes during the lobscouse part. Heh.
Helen, I've listened to that inhale more than just a few times...
ReplyDeleteAh wicked
ReplyDeletein the writing
and chilling
in the telling
This leaves you in suspense...
ReplyDeleteI'm always delighted with the myriad ways one photograph can inspire different writers. As many different takes on the prompt as there are writers, really. Yours is impressive.
ReplyDelete— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
I very much like this.
ReplyDeleteYou really sliced and diced for this menu... chilling rendition.
ReplyDeleteTess, I like the story you told here as well as imagining the story behind the story! Inspired!!
ReplyDeleteThis is strong work. I especially like the first stanza. It sounds so right.
ReplyDeletePhoto amazing. Slightly irritated that I can't express why...that goes for the words, too. I did notice he lit up at the beginning of the reading, though.
ReplyDeleteJack Nicholson and the film Chinatown popped into my head! Brilliantly read too!..Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI guess you will want to put a twitter icon to your website. I just marked down the blog, although I had to complete this manually. Just my suggestion.
ReplyDeleteMy site:
DSL Vergleich klick hier
Excellent last line - made me giggle!
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Wow, powerful words!
ReplyDeleteI am glad she's only considering . . . . .
ReplyDeleteTess, every time I click on your comments I get the private blogger window. Any idea why?
Dirty work at the crossroads, as they say. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteI find this rather surreal Willow and like it for that reason.
ReplyDeleteUmm....and which LBJ limo would that be?? The Lincoln, the Caddy, or that tacky '64 stretched Buick Electra that the staff used?? LOL.
ReplyDeleteGreat scene in this poem! Having a Lizzy Borden moment when you wrote this one?
Rick, that would be the 1968 Lincoln Limo...yes, I am sometimes known as Tessy Borden...
ReplyDeleteAH! Finally, some blood among these....
ReplyDeleteOh! Waiter, tell chef the Beef Stew was 'out-of-this-world'!
And a gallon jug of cheap White Port, please. One glass, no--forget the glass!
No dessert. (burp!)
Steve E, it was eaten with a dark and glossy ragu...and a nice Chianti...oh, and you might like to toss in a few fava beans...
ReplyDeleteIf I close my eyes a listen to your poem being read by that sexy voice, I imagine myself in some smokey beat house in the 60s listening to a reading. Ans just for fun I have my red umbrella and it is raining outside.
ReplyDeletevery gruesome, I loved it!
ReplyDelete(I had to google lobscouse, its a great word)
Words, lobscouse is a wonderful word...I enjoyed using it as an adjective.
ReplyDeleteThe step between 'considering' and 'stew' is a quick blink... I love the energy of this poem.
ReplyDeleteThis was so apt yet so light and out of context of the your usual darkish imagery and this story of clinical execution that I laughed out loud. "but his eyes are open
ReplyDeletelooking at her
like she just stole his bicycle". Just like she stole his bicycle??? I can SEE IT! Does one have to be crazy to react like this? XX.
Tess, this has to be one of my favourites of yours, cool, stylish and wicked.
ReplyDeleteOh but I like this, I like her! :-D
ReplyDeleteThis is truly wild and wicked-- what an imagination-- you must be a poet...par excellence. xxxj
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at you, kiddo - whole new meaning. Great, Tess! :-) I can't wait to find out what my dreams shall be tonight.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not.
murder most poetic - wonderfully noir Tess...
ReplyDeleteDeliciously bloodthirsty, and so elegantly written.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIF she considers another Manor Ball, and IF there's lobscouse sitting out in the open, I may just dive right in.
Phil...stay tuned for the 4th Annual Willow Manor Ball...a yet to be determined date in October 2011...
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes. That's intense and brilliant. And I love the reader's voice -- just wow.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, when oh, when, is that chapbook of yours coming out?
Thanks, Elizabeth...Finishing Line Press is running late...should be sometime in the next week or two...seems like forever!
ReplyDeleteOne of Tess's finest poems in my opinion ...
ReplyDeleteI agree with R.A.D. Stainforth's comment ahead of mine. And I think your poem was made for his reading...
ReplyDelete(I see at his blog yours is noted as the Blog of the Century, and Penny Red is his Blog of the Month. That really interested me because I just weeks ago discovered Penny Red and I think she is remarkable.)
RADical triptych of voice, word, and image!
ReplyDeletelavoris there's a product i haven't thought of in a while!
wow- strong work!
ReplyDeleteHad an inkling what "lobscouse" probably meant from your poem but had to look it up nonetheless. I love learning new words, and this was brilliantly played! Didn't know you had a bit of Mrs. Lovett in you, dear!
ReplyDeleteComfortable read. Loved every word - especially 'icky red'......!
ReplyDeleteBicycle thieves are the desperadoes of the urban frontier.
ReplyDeletelooking at her
ReplyDeletelike she just stole his bicycle...
Excellent last two lines.
"Cold blood-red", yet searing emotions!
ReplyDeleteThis Clytemnestra's plan sounds like it has been foiled.
Anyone who looks at her as though she stole his bicycle becomes wary of a sharpened axe!
Full of admiration - having just tried it for myself. A really enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteYup, I knew there was a sinister side to the picture there! Lovely read...
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Arnab Majumdar on SribbleFest.com
Tess . . . I might be delving too deeply, but from reading the comments I get the feeling that none of them have penetrated to what your poem is actually about . . . . ?
ReplyDeleteP.S. Where I live, "lobscouse" is a meat and potato stew, beloved of "Scousers", i.e natives of Liverpool, UK.
Trell, the original intent of my poems are often well layered...I like my readers to do a little excavating.
ReplyDeleteR.A.D. Stainforth's reading of Tess Kincaid's 'she considers' is brilliant! The images of the femme fatale; a knowing she has such surgical precision to render him nearly useless or at least temporarily impotent. A stunning piece of poetics!
ReplyDeleteOh, wonderfully sinister, Tess. I love the tough language - a much more exotic brew than mere lobscouse!
ReplyDeleteLove this! This is one of the best things I've read in a while.
ReplyDeleteNext time I watch American Pickers, I'll be holding my breath for what they might find...
It's American Psycho from the XX side of the aisle! - only as seen through the eyes of the waning days of the golden age of this land of ours...
ReplyDelete...and rendered poetic thereby. What a difference an era makes.
ReplyDeletePoetry Noir--very cool! Love "lobscouse." Not a word one hears every day. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear readers, for your kind and generous comments. Like I always say, you are the best readers in the blogosphere. You are. And I appreciate you.
ReplyDelete