Friday, July 14, 2006

Cenotaph with Audio


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Cenotaph

I stroke your crumbled bones,
sun baked and weather-worn
in a desert graveyard.

I fondle the ivory relics of your name,
beat them into the earth
with the drums of my feet.

You don't answer.

Have you forgotten, in sewn-eyed darkness,
or do you still whisper,
as I do, in elephant songs?

5 comments:

  1. E, this one has always struck a powerful chord within me. Hearing it read does it even more.

    You always amaze me with your writing, you know that by now, don't you?

    It's just the way you say so much with so few words. "Sewn-eyed darkness"-- wow! The image there is enough to wrench your gut. And the parallel to the elephant graveyard... makes me have to sit back and take a deep breath.

    I sort of feel like you rushed through the reading of this, though. Or maybe my mind just needed a longer pause in order to soak it all in. Still, it's a beautiful poem, read in a beautiful voice.

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  2. S-L-O-W D-O-W-N ! But I agree, it's a beautifulpoem, read in a beautiful voice,

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  3. haha
    This is my submission to the poetry carnival Ringing of the Bards this week, which I nearly forgot. At the absolute last possible moment, I recorded this and sent the link to the host... hence the hurried reading. I'll re-record it in a few :)

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  4. Anonymous11:07 PM

    Erin, beautiful words and sentiments whether spoken or written.

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  5. I'm just getting caught up on Glenn's poetry carnival, its been a busy couple of weeks! This is a beautifully tactile piece. Nice touch of irony in the concluding image. Good one Erin!

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