Monday, June 6, 2011

not so pretty




not so pretty
my penmanship, it wobbles in slant
each finger holding fear of a rulers sharp
recurrence, but then life

is not so pretty, not as taught
would you want it to be, so pretty? pretty holds expectation
takes on a fore fronting of conflicts
fought for, lied for, cursed into being, bearing
gifts of captured collaborations
unable to escape its
constraints, it, a cat house

rare, raw
turned over nightly as not
so pretty, feeding
off the sold signs, signature images
perfected in style and slick hands
drop of a dollar - as the not so pretty ensures
all feel pretty good in the end, ensuing a laughter more than
a proper portrait can promise all boxed, bowed
and delivered in Gucci, speaking in
Getty, bottled and aged ripe

a cat cries out
at nightfall, in heat, its heat seems
to scream summertime, tempered
by the will of a wellspring
splashed  in a flashing
neon cursive, smoldering in smells
of a hard whiskey, clinging close to that character
of a nunneries darker side, like the busted
brown, worn wooden beads
remnant's of a rosary scattered across terracotta
tiles - haunted, hunted down by the fountain pens of the
not so pretty...

bkmackenzie
copyrighted 2011

Posted for Free Verse Writing class.....and One Shot Wednesday at One Stop Poetry

23 comments:

  1. Just devastatingly sharp and honest, full of challenge and asking, yet also giving an answer which may or may not find favor but so what--when you're not so pretty, favor is a transitory and frequently irrelevant commodity. A great piece of free verse, tight and excellent all through. Thanks for linking up today, barbara

    ReplyDelete
  2. The nun's ghost reappears: "it wobbles in slant
    each finger holding fear of a rulers sharp" and what is pretty penmanship when you can write such alliteration sweeping the curses of a lifetime into a heap and staring at them in all their squalid beauty, more brutally raw than Salinger, sharper than Plath, more Irish than Heaney. This is poetry!

    ReplyDelete
  3. bk, this is marvelous...you create a great flow with your aliteration and esp like the imagery of the busted rosary...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the interplay of sibillant, slippery and pulsing sounds! A beautiful read!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Barb, this is oh so very good, dead on.

    Pamela

    ReplyDelete
  6. Conceived, composed, continued--it is in a writer's world that begin and end are written, in cursive, with a pen--and become history.

    Excellent exercise, your penmanship 'pretty', and image totally relevant. Thank you for good work.
    PEACE!

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Not so pretty "- like a mantra or a curse

    Hmmmm like it

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the title, the subject, and the final lines...the image of the rosary, amazing power to these words and images. As always, intimidated, impressed, and so hoping that I will one day be able to write with such a voice! Honored by your visits and schooled by your work. :) Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wonderful lines - I see the rosary beads scattered across the terra cotta tiles. Beautiful poem.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very nice piece. I really enjoyed the transitioning between each stanza, just worked extremely nice. Thanks for sharing:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. An authentic and intelligent poem with startling imagery. I enjoyed it immensely, James.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great train of thought and speculation running through and between the lines. You provide a a deep background for recounting the speaker's addressed behaviors. A great piece with excellent phrasing of imagery, bkm

    ReplyDelete
  13. a fantastic write, bkm... there's a lot of mystery. and "not so pretty" I like that a lot... it's simple but can be a very deep subject & you took it there.

    ReplyDelete
  14. like the busted
    brown, worn wooden beads
    remnant's of a rosary scattered across terracotta
    tiles

    another beautifully executed poem that says 'it is not so pretty'—while you have pulled it from the ruins and made it beyond pretty, you have made it real.

    ReplyDelete
  15. an intense atmosphere and flow in this bk...haunted, hunted down by the fountain pens of the
    not so pretty... tight!

    ReplyDelete
  16. there are those times when everything becomes transparent and our fingers can no longer remain steady, and our penmanship wobbles with fear...and this is when our thoughts become crystal clear and no matter how much the truth hurts, we must write about it...there has never been one line of your poetry that has not moved mountains and left me wanting to view life through that kaleidoscope of yours...it is truly an honor to have the opportunity to relish in the gifts you share for all those who soar in the limitlessness of poetry...

    thank you for yet another amazing view of life...

    sincerely,

    ReplyDelete
  17. Thank you all for your comments and visits...I have been a bit lacks this past month on visits...love you all thank you again..bkm

    ReplyDelete
  18. Another excellent piece from your pen, whether the handwriting is perfect or not is irrelevant, when the thoughts are as precise as these.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Powerfully worded and paced..I can almost taste the ink. // Peter.

    ReplyDelete
  20. There are just so many images in this one, Barbara that stun me. It is brilliant and speaks to many of my core understandings. Pretty does bring expectations. In my opinion, this needs to be published. Must be!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wonderful poetry. So enjoyed your pacing, alliteration and the way you touch cords of intuition-marvelous.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fine piece Barbara, well-crafted and engrossing in content

    Warmest Salad

    Luke

    ReplyDelete