Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Truth Serum

Truth Serum

Can you name the key
lunging into your locks.
Which truth serum
persuades you to talk,

and what aftertaste glows
in the ceiling of your throat.
Which room would you
talk to me in. What code.

What is the difference
between speech and song.
Do you notice your cadence
wandering around along

the edges of melody.
How are you training,
based on the scenes
you keep recreating

and painting. Which
dark art is your specialty.
There is always one,
at least, a jagged tendency

that you drag out to
play with. Have you seen
what you are trying to teach
yourself through routine.

10 comments

  1. This is perhaps the best poem I have read in quite a while. I have read it three times now, and found more in it on each occasion. I think I have not finished with it yet.

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  2. I like this very much, the second stanza in particular. I also like the "jagged tendency that you drag out to play with".

    I do wonder, though, and maybe I asked this before and have forgotten the answer, why do you never use question marks?

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  3. Eerie wonderful questions here. The aftertaste gets me, and the question about routine, and all the marvelous images...

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  4. Yes, I'm with Fireblossom in this query, 'why don't you ever use question marks?' notice I didn't quite quote Fireblossom, she said '...why do you never' and I said ' '...why don't you ever'. I love misusing punctuation because it calls attention to my 'jagged tendency' which is attention to the content rather than the classical correctness.

    Love your depth!

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  5. Great echoes made with vowel sounds...

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  6. I clicked through to Jorion's site before reading your poem. What amazing photography! Your poem could apply to any of his photo essays.

    Great title and imagery! But more than that, the questions are marvelous. Reading this is like wandering through the mind, or listening to the inner and outer selves have at it.

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  7. I frequently wonder about how much life would be easier if everyone told the truth_ tell the truth when you are already caught. I always wonder...every time I hear Michael Jackson's doctor, is he lying or telling the truth, what is the advantage of lying, what is the gain, and Jerry Sandusky (sp?), why do people lie, no one really seems to care anyhow, and it would be so much easier and cheaper to tell the truth....Powerful poem...I think about the aftertaste... x

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  8. Thanks so much for these comments.

    Shay and Nene, your question has been with me all day. I definitely do this intentionally (avoid question marks)--I think it has to do with creating speculation, and not interrupting the meditations with the question mark (which feels choppy or like an interrogation, which isn't what I want here). More thinking about this....thanks for the excellent question.

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  9. That photograph is amazing. This poem speaks (sings?) to me as a singer. I am always visualizing the ceiling of my throat, intentionally creating space for sound.

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  10. what aftertaste glows
    in the ceiling of your throat.


    a jagged tendency

    that you drag out to
    play with.

    These are terrific, both to convey the same . . . item? phenomenon? dynamic?

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