Raven's Wing Poetry » watching

Silent Drama

ravenswingpoetry — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:02:53 +0000

This was written both as a response to this week’s Simply Snickers prompt (write a poem with the words secret and silent) and as a response to the following excerpt from Monday’s post on Lutheran Surrealism:

“Even more boring: I like to watch plants grow, and to see if I can catch them at it. Hard to make a drama out of such a thing.”

So…this is my attempt to make a drama out of such a thing. And a pantoum to boot. Enjoy.

-Nicole

————————————————————–
silent still still still
breathe in out still
freeze focus don’t blink
watch watch watch watch

breathe in out still
cells divide inch up
watch watch watch watch
one inch of green

cells divide inch up
stalk stalk grow slow
one inch of green
leaves extend to sunlight

stalk stalk grow slow
a secret silent drama
leaves extend to sunlight
sit watch watch watch

a secret silent drama
freeze focus don’t blink
sit watch watch watch
silent still still still

Written 6/17/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

When I Watch You

ravenswingpoetry — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:32:06 +0000

This image can be found at: http://upload.moldova.org/movie/movies/s/sex_lies_and_videotape/thumbnails/tn2_sex_lies_and_videotape_3.jpg.

This was written for the new Read Write Poem Prompt this week – to write a poem using “when I watch you”, the first line of Lucille Clifton’s poem, “miss rosie”. I shut my eyes as the prompt instructed…and I ended up getting inside the head of Graham Dalton from the film “Sex, Lies, and Videotape”. Enjoy.

-Nicole

when I watch you
I see my failures
speaking to me
you are one of many
in a chain of women laid end to end
captured on videotape
I carry these ghosts with me
though alive in flesh they all
remind me of a love that died
because I lied
and I’ve crucified
myself ever since

you are nothing like your sister

you glow from my t.v. monitor
the light casts blue-white color onto my feet
as I watch you spill your sexual secrets
in private playback
they remind me of
what I can never have again
because I lied

so I wear my video camera as a mask
because I am not brave
and I am afraid I never will be

but you are brave

cynthia bishop

Written 6/4/08
© 2008 Nicole Nicholson. All Rights Reserved.

Stumble It!

Questions

ravenswingpoetry — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:51:20 +0000

From one watcher to another -
Isn’t it fun to discover
That you ain’t the only one
Hidden in the
Blackness
And spying on the
Madness?
But what do you
Do
When somebody wants to
Watch
YOU
Touch
YOU
Hear
YOU
Maybe even taste
YOU?
Do you give it up
Or pull it in?
Venture forth
Or withdrawn within
To your own universe
Of thought?
And for that matter,
What is “it”,
And does that volatile package
Include your heart?

Eye Language

ravenswingpoetry — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:41:47 +0000

I can speak with my eyes,
Tell whole stories with glances
Or looks
That can hook
When eye-windows don’t face the
Pages of a book.
Could I write the books
Of love, life, passion, and hate?
Maybe my eyes hold my fate.

Stumble It!

The Watcher

ravenswingpoetry — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:53:13 +0000

I watch life through hourglass eyes
As times drips down, eluding the wise;
Life moves past me, a dance of compromise
And I watch who loves, who lives, and who dies.

I watch life through spyglass eyes
So that no one sees my own bitter compromise
And I remain from afar, thinking I am wise
That no one sees my anguish and my cries.

I watch life through looking-glass eyes;
My own reflection looks back at me and belies
The folly of my loneliness where I thought I was wise
To remain hidden from the glances of others’ eyes.

Then I watch life through contact-lens eyes -
Fully in this dimension, and nobody pries,
Looking for the girl they all knew as “four-eyes”
Who used to perch in her ivory tower and longingly spy

For the moment when she could leap in and maximize
Hey joy at being something other than a pair of eyes.
I’m already here, via invitation from the wise -
No more simply watching through envious eyes.