Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Kerri Shying R # 9 - Tell the Decades


Tell the Decades

let the stacks motionless prevail   to take to dust
 the stains of latter days    rain fallen gap-roofed

flies dead   stacked five high    always
 another piece always another   high   sky high

lie to me lie to me baby lie to me say it is
 good it is true  too true to be real  to be sane to be real   hot water

that we got into   takes the skin right off    I used to see
 the old women   take one ripe tomato from the garden

dunk it with the wire mesh   throw the ball back
 skinless    we would strain the seeds out

when it cooled and make passata 
  talk to me about refined

when the water cools
  someday

7 comments:

  1. something a little hypnotic about this
    but that's not helping me work it out really

    it's more of a drawing down into a vortex

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    1. Yep, that is the right impact. It is going to be part of a small segment about relationships to situational violence.

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  2. I love the atmosphere of the poem, the mystery in it, but also what I feel: some hints of suffering, someone on the edge of madness perhaps... And this last word, someday, sounds like a mix of disbelief, resignation, black humor, and even light anger and contempt, at least sarcasm ... I'm wondering in which "environment” this poem is to be « nested » in ? Is it part of a section in a collection?

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    1. I think it may be part of a larger series, about a relationship

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  3. I really like the idea of this being part of a larger series - it stands alone but hints at something I want to know more about. I really like the way you use spaces for pauses in your work, Kerri. Also the way you bring in this extended metaphor of the passata almost like a breakaway scene against the tension/pain of the third stanza. I can’t suggest any changes - this works for me as is, but again, would love to see it as part of a collection.

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    1. I use the spaces after Beckett, to be honest. A long long time ago I was talking to Billy Whitelaw about playing in Beckett and she said that when he wrote three dots he meant it and would ring her to ask why she rushed something if she didn't speak them all. She made me think very hard about the spaces we leave to let work breathe, and to let people soak the word's intention. It was at Sydney Uni, in the 80's. I think Reimer got her out. He was gooood.

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  4. interesting narrative possibilities with building suspense this way ... i.e distributing the story among the moods evoked

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