literature

Star Swallower

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Daily Deviation

January 30, 2013
Star Swallower by *PursuingTheCerberus Suggester writes: A beautiful, moving, tragic poem that reminds us to not be caught up in our doubts, lest the flame of our creativity flicker out unseen.
Featured by BeccaJS
Suggested by LadyofGaerdon
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Literature Text

She's
an enigma.
her head, a stadium drowning with applause.
yet its seats are empty like the notebooks
where armies of words should be marching.
instead she dismantles clocks
thinking she can play with time.
behind the mountains lurks a darker reasoning
a twisted labyrinth of rationalizations
hidden from the suns brilliance.

Years alone beneath the bleached fluorescent
reading those already dancing in the moonlight.
she is living a literary half-life through them
hiding from the symmetry of the writer.
licking salty rocks of excuses.
saving her secrets for posthumous excavation.
decades of productivity left for moths to chew.
you're throwing coffins into the sea
with each day that passes wordless.
denying us the sweet whistles from inside your skull.
meaningful, impacting stories only you could pen.

Stop climbing broken staircases
towards the pale summer stars of obscurity.
these are still fruitful years of beauty.
remove your armor.
claw beyond your fears.
allow us into your wonderland.


============================
COPYRIGHT 2014, William Barker

All my work has copyrights
with the Library of Congress.
No usage without my permission
regardless of circumstance.
3/10/14: You can hear me read this poem: HERE

For Suzanne Staples: Poetess, Friend, and Mentor.
© 2011 - 2024 PursuingTheCerberus
Comments181
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Pauper-Circumstance's avatar
I think somewhere in heaven, Suzanne Staples is smiling.

This is just... let me get my breath back. There is a great deal of emotion within this poem. This is my interpretation of your words:

You introduce your character to us as a mystery, or an "enigma". In a way, you're already letting the reader open up his or her mind to create their own thoughts of the rest of the poem. People are always anxious to solve mysteries, and you introduce your character as one which the readers want to solve. You provide the readers with clues, in the form of metaphors, from "a twisted labyrinth of rationalizations" to "a twisted labyrinth of rationalizations". With each passing line you provide more insight on the inspiration you, as not only a poet but a person, had for this friend. You present yourself as one of us, the readers. Your words open to us what type of person she was- she never feared her thought or words. She never let a notebook go dry; there was always ink on the paper. Her passing signifies an end to the great works she had written and you, along with the readers, long for a return of the inspiration she so often presented. Your poem is rather morbid throughout, but you end on a high not of hope. You ask of the character to "allow us into your wonderland", as if, to give either inspiration one more time or to tell us how she so often provided such inspiration. No read cannot finish this poem with being overwhelmed with many emotions. The poem itself inspires, myself, to look at my poetry in a different light and not just as words, but as little emotions which can impact my readers. This is my feeling from the poem. 

This is fantast, Mr. Barker, and I truly enjoyed reading it. :)