BlueIris
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:07 PM
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The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 1/24/08 |
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"The Attic"
Praise to my older brother, the seventeen-year-old boy, who lived in the attic with me an exiled prince grown hard in his confinement,
bitter, bent to his evening task building the imaginary building on the drawing board they'd given him in school. His tools gleam
under the desk lamp. He is as hard as the pencil he holds, drawing the line straight along the ruler.
Tower prince, young king, praise to the boy who has willed his blood to cool and his heart to slow. He's building
a structure with so many doors it's finally quiet, so that when our father climbs heavily up the attic stairs, he doesn't
at first hear him pass down the narrow hall. My brother is rebuilding the foundation. He lifts the clear plastic of one page
to look more closely at the plumbing, —he barely hears the springs of my bed when my father sits down—
he's imagining where the boiler might go, because where it is now isn't working. Not until I've slammed the door behind
the man stumbling down the stairs again does my brother look up from where he's working. I know it hurts him
to rise, to knock on my door and come in. And when he draws his skinny arm around my shaking shoulders,
I don't know if he knows he's building a world where I can one day love a man—he sits there without saying anything.
Praise him. I know he can hardly bear to touch me.
—Marie Howe
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:09 PM
Response to Original message |
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Edited on Thu Jan-24-08 10:11 PM by Tuesday Afternoon
god fucking damn
on edit: you did warn us about February.
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ThomCat
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:11 PM
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2. I just sat here and read that repeatedly. |
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And I know I'll come back and read it some more. :(
That is a very haunting poem. And that last line hurts like hell.
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:13 PM
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the tears are streaming down my cheeks right now. I was so already not in a good place emotionally. then this just smacked me like a muthafucker. Like a god damn motherfucker.
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ThomCat
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:14 PM
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4. I am very, very sorry. |
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:(
I wish I was there to sit with you and talk. :hug:
I'm here if you want to PM.
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:18 PM
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She is good at the bad stuff, isn't she?
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ThomCat
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:20 PM
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6. BlueIris finds the best poems with strong impact. |
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And they have that impact because they are about things that people don't or can't easily talk about.
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:24 PM
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BlueIris
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:30 PM
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Well, that wasn't quite the reaction I was trying to give people. But it's understandable.
Feel better, Tuesday!
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Tuesday Afternoon
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:34 PM
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I stepped away and got my bearings. Raw nerves tonight on my part. Although, this is one powerful poem chicka!!
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BlueIris
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:29 PM
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There's a lot more to this story. Most of it will unfold in February. Which I was going to PM you about, 'cause...yeah, February...
Buckle up, kids. It's gonna be poetic.
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ThomCat
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:42 PM
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As raw and painful as they can be, they're also motivating.
They motivate us to stand up and face the horrors that so many people really deal with. And they motivate us to pull those horrors out of the dark corners and quiet closets. And they'll motivate us to be there to help.
I'm already crying for the knowledge of what too many of my friends have lived through. But they survived, and we can talk about this stuff.
:)
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ismnotwasm
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Thu Jan-24-08 10:53 PM
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How do they do it? How do they put things like that into poetry? I have an artist soul, and I can sketch out any number of emotional things. But to write them down? As prose or poem, it's beyond me.
Maybe writing forces me to think on a deeper level. Drawing is more fantasy, I don't know.
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RetroLounge
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Thu Jan-24-08 11:29 PM
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I think I'll post Ogden Nash all February as an antidote for these...
That's powerful stuff.
Hey Blue, are you familiar with Frances Driscoll?
RL
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BlueIris
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Thu Jan-24-08 11:36 PM
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14. Uh, yeah, Ogden Nash sounds like a good idea. Life is about balance after all. |
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Edited on Thu Jan-24-08 11:36 PM by BlueIris
And no, I don't think I know any Frances Driscoll.
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CaliforniaPeggy
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Thu Jan-24-08 11:44 PM
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You know, the first time I read this, I didn't get it...
Now I do...
This is a tough one indeed...
So eloquent in its metaphors...
Thank you...
Did you see my poem last night, about the rain?
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Thu May 02nd 2024, 09:15 PM
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