red poppy song

bellmusker
Author: bellmusker
Word Count: 207
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red poppy song

It’s Hallowe’en this weekend in the northern hemisphere, and Beltaine in the southern. It’s traditionally a time to embrace the darkness, and then release it.

It’s harder than it seems, sometimes.

red poppy song belongs to the following groups:

A New Aesthetic.... Divine and Otherwise , Blue Room, Lesbian and Bi-Women's Art, Melbourne & Victoria, Pleasure & Pain, Short stories - Spherical Scriptings, The Red Writing Room, The Sensual Word and WMG

There’s this thing you do with the corner of your mouth, when you need to stem emotion. It almost makes you look like you’re trying not to laugh, but I know better.

I know you pour honey in your whiskey but swallow with a shudder that makes me smile. I know you murmur in your sleep, words I could never catch. I know the taste of your fingers and the heat of your thigh between mine. I know you’ve kept that photo, playing guitar with my feet in your lap and blood red poppies woven along your fretboard as we sang. I know where my copy is, but I don’t look at it anymore. I know I still can’t swallow when I hear your name.

And I know I’ve been trying to wash you off my skin for so many seasons, but your ink has pooled into my pores and seeped down deep. In a certain light, I can still read you on my body.

There’s this thing I do with a tilt of my head, when I’m trying to breathe evenly. It almost makes me look like I’m in control, but you know better.

© bellmusker 2009

  • Lisa  Jewell

    Lisa Jewell

    Some cannot be washed off the skin….

    I fell heavily into this piece, Babe….you paint such strong imagery.

    xox

  • Lawford

    Lawford

    mmmm

  • JaneSolomon

    JaneSolomon

    I am totally mesmerised…..an emotional conjuring. xx

  • jim marshal

    jim marshal

    God that was beautiful, so descriptive and accessible. Maybe the tattoo is not the ink.

  • jemimalovesbigted

    jemimalovesbigted

    its funny, I have been dreaming about all my past boyfriends this week and its unusual… perhaps its to do with Beltaine…

    This was wonderful Bell. x

  • erich biemer

    erich biemer

    beautiful but poignant all the same….loss comes by many names…

  • Matthew Dalton

    Matthew Dalton

    Is it worth learning a language that can only be spoken with one other?

    There is wisdom, self knowing, in that last paragraph which made me smile.

  • lianne

    lianne

    In a certain light, I can still read you on my body…that is just sublime Bell. The entire piece is so haunting, filled with longing for a lost dream, exquisitely painful. And profoundly true and beautiful. xo

  • Steve Strodder a.k.a Saul and Cal.S.Heart

    Steve Strodder...

    im liking the idea of releasing darkness…thanks so much for that bit of inspiration I might just use it if you dont mind :)

  • TheWanderingBoo

    TheWanderingBoo

    your words are so haunting and deeply emotional…beautiful writing…

  • Christopher Wren Raggatt

    Christopher Wr...

    Physically affected by an emotional condition… emotionally affected by a physical condition…I’ve caught your sickness…here, lie on this tapis, the poppy will help you forget.

  • roybarry

    roybarry

    When is it going to end?

    When am I going to be emotionally conditioned enough, to not get goosebumps when I experience the world through your eyes?

    Bell-you’re not a writer, you’re one of Dickens ghosts, from “A Christmas Carol”, visiting me often, scooping me up and placing me slap bang in the middle of living, breathing, sliver of time.

  • Yoanna

    Yoanna

    No comments – just my compliments.
    Kudos for that.

  • Teacup

    Teacup

    It is harder at times than others to release the darkness that engulfs… an amazing piece as ever Bell… beautiful with a deep sigh of sadness x

  • Pip Gerard

    Pip Gerard

    dam!! In my eyes… that was just perfect!!

  • trwoody

    trwoody

    Enchantingly exquisite, you’ve taken us to the inner sanctum of memories. With out judgement or criticism, only true emotions

  • Kristin  Reynolds

    Kristin Reynolds

    gorgeous writing, so emotive and sensual…and longingly beautiful.

  • SPlogos

    SPlogos

    wow, so perfect and so succinct. As you said, harder than it seems to release it. beautiful

  • Wordslinger

    Wordslinger

    This is really fantastic. It made me feel something, not sure exactly what. But the fact is I felt it. great stuff.

  • LittleHelen
  • LittleHelen
  • berndt2

    berndt2

    brilliant – love how the specfic itemised facts are unique, but the emotions beneath are completely universal

  • Holly Ringland

    Holly Ringland

    oh my pagan girl…
    your words breathe life and colour and heart into the whispers of everything left unsaid in the shadows. light and dark, tender and bruise… you manage to cup and articulate the pain and joy of regeneration with such a deft touch. this reached deep into my belly, where the shadows are, and scattered a few poppies about… though i don’t know if i’ll visit their garden often. i’ll know they’re there and maybe that will be enough.
    i adore this piece bell. it is vibrant with grief and hope. happy hallowe’en my girl xxx

  • Dwayne Boyd

    Dwayne Boyd

    Excellent

  • burntblue

    burntblue

    gorgeous… beautiful refrain. Melancholy and sweet.

  • raymondoantonio

    raymondoantonio 28 days ago

    BELLISSIMO! LOVE AND LOSS IS LIKE THAT SOMETIMES!!

  • PJ Ryan

    PJ Ryan 28 days ago

    so beautiful, such an ache, i know x

  • Rex Inkpen

    Rex Inkpen 28 days ago

    soulful beautiful work… wonderful images underpinned by deep strong undercurrents.

  • ArcadiaTempest

    ArcadiaTempest 27 days ago

    pass the whisky….I need a little nip after reading this to steady my heart….beautiful writing can do that to me…X

  • butchart

    butchart 27 days ago

    your words always wrap themselves around me …fighting them is futility…............b

  • erika15

    erika15 27 days ago

    Oh….the ending is like the beginning. It comes full circle, emotions dance inside the circle like black flames….Your words are always so delectable for me, I don’t know why. x

  • walela

    walela 27 days ago

    This is so wonderful!! Hauntingly beautiful!

  • drpepper73

    drpepper73 26 days ago

    This gave me goosebumps, wonderfully written. xo

  • zarkhoc

    zarkhoc 26 days ago

    You almost made me cry… or maybe I’m about to cry. So much emotion, life, love, sadness, passion… love it! really nice…

  • Jane17

    Jane17 18 days ago

    oh wow, you touch the emotional response through your sensory language. Very good writing!

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