Aug 18, 2013

Mag 182

Tess Kincaid offers writers this underwater photo-image by Elena Kalis as the prompt for this week's Mag.



 Prolonged Immersion

Rebuke, or pity? Spurning all life-skill guides,
overlooking shellfish jaws and stings that leave
sure swimmers keeling, she dived young, keen to prise,
eviscerate and string the seeds.
                                                       The first heave
mesmerised. Sea-tentacles and weed unfurled,
artful to drag her down. The laden wrecks
rebuffed her questing hands. The glass-green swirl
yawed, paused and shifted her past hope of land.

Meshed with slow swells she grins and glides,
adrift on moon-drugged tides, which at their flood
roll, roll her shorewards, till brine cold rhythms guide
this prisoner from deeps misunderstood.

In the sea's time, formless remains are hurled
naked, flesh gorged by seabirds, spent, unpearled.

.
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19 comments:

  1. CadAugust 18, 2013 at 6:07 PM

    Shiver me timbers! Pearl divers beware...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tess KincaidAugust 18, 2013 at 10:09 PM

    Unpearled...I love that...

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 18, 2013 at 11:18 PM

    This is an excellent poem. Really like the imagery and lines like "Sea-tentacles and weed unfurled, / artful to drag her down." Great stuff!

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  4. Wayne PitchkoAugust 19, 2013 at 4:34 AM

    nicely done...thanks for sharing

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  5. HelenAugust 19, 2013 at 4:43 PM

    Beautiful poetry .... deep, like the water.

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  6. AnonymousAugust 19, 2013 at 7:51 PM

    Oh wow I love the richness of the language incredible work

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  7. HelenaAugust 19, 2013 at 10:21 PM

    You usually have me giggling in my swivel, but I'm totally breathless with this one! I love it!

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  8. UnknownAugust 20, 2013 at 12:46 PM

    Your imagery has left me shaken.

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  9. Mrs.TrellisAugust 20, 2013 at 5:52 PM

    A poem that sounds like a poem at last!

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  10. Lucy WestenraAugust 20, 2013 at 6:26 PM

    So many wonderful things, but I'm particularly impressed by the last line of the octet. The two long vowels "yawed" and "paused" and the comma between them which forces another pause, followed by the succession of closed vowels and monsyllables exactly conveys the rhythm of a receding wave.

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    Replies
    1. Doctor FTSEAugust 21, 2013 at 7:18 AM

      Thank you, Lucy. This sort of comment is a refreshing change from the relentless "awesomes"

      Delete
  11. JinksyAugust 20, 2013 at 9:47 PM

    I literally think this is one poem I'd like to take to my grave - which sounds weird, but I want my remains to be thrown into the sea, and what better accompaniment could they have than these exquisite words?! :)

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    Replies
    1. Doctor FTSEAugust 21, 2013 at 7:21 AM

      Thank you, Jinksy. May your burial at sea be a long, long way off. Blogland could not function properly without you.

      Delete
  12. Kathe W.August 20, 2013 at 10:53 PM

    yep- I'm with Jinksy----just push me out when I am done!

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  13. Silent Otto August 21, 2013 at 4:41 PM

    It has a slow and inevitable rhythmic life all its own...thanks Dr FTSE

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ginny BrannanAugust 22, 2013 at 5:24 PM

    Another beauty lost to the hypnotic rhythm of the sea. Truly enjoyed reading this one; deep, well-thought, nicely penned.

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  15. ~T~August 27, 2013 at 3:14 AM

    Eloquent, indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  16. EdiOctober 1, 2019 at 9:54 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  17. JinksyAugust 13, 2023 at 11:19 AM

    hellooo

    ReplyDelete

WV's turned off. Glad to see this is catching on. I don't want my readers to work for nothing for folk whose OCR software doesn't work properly.

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