Second Skin

27 April 2012

67 Comments


Turn back time and I will be
as of the wind
sugarcrafted on the skin
with pause for eyes the nose
salacious teethings
and sometimes
when the moon sucks the wood
from yonder trees
and chiff-chaffs stick
their nosey points towards
grey bony threads of
sickle-clouds
remember me
when all is sifted and I a
graft
a slump and spendage
around the shoulders
of stalwart better things

© Eve Redwater 2012

[Posted for Dverse – Meeting the Bar: Allegory – come join the allegorical fun! Also, remember you can always click on my photographs for a bigger view~]

67 thoughts on “Second Skin”

  1. really nice weave to your words eve, there is a very near cadence in going through this one as well…when the moon sucks wood from yonder tree, is a pretty cool line….nice imagery

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  7. Yes, the line that struck me seemed to resonate with everyone: the moon sucks the wood. You have the ability to create unique images, to see things as other might not. That’s poetry, I think.

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    • Thank you very much Mr. Wolf, but I’ve decided not to accept awards for a while! It means the world that you thought of me though, I really appreciate it! x

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  19. lovely images. my love for trees drew me into this one right from the start. not sure what the allegory reference is for sure but it reminds me of either being there for someone who was bullied or being the one who was bullied.

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    • Hello Sheila! Thank you for your comment! 🙂 The allegory is for, literally, a second skin – an animal skin. I find the thought on bullying very intriguing though; it’s an unfortunate circumstance I’m quite familiar with.

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  21. This is beautiful, Eve! I especially enjoyed your word choices: “sugarcrafted” and “pause for eyes”–they convey a very intriguing surrealist imagery. Great work.

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  27. Like everyone else, Eve, I think the language of this is extraordinary. You seem to reach for word combinations that are off-beat enough to capture the imagination and cause the reader to see an image or event or moment in a way they have not seen before.
    But what in the world does this mean? If you turn back time
    …I will be
    as of the wind
    sugarcrafted on the skin
    with a pause…
    for the eyes, nose, and salacious teethings…
    The language, the images, and the meaning of these lines is creative in the extreme: wind sugarcrafted on skin, a pause for eyes, nose, salacious teethings. Wow!
    But then, after describing the poet, the I in the poem, you make a turn:
    and sometimes
    when the moon sucks the wood
    from yonder trees
    and chiff-chaffs stick
    their nosey points towards
    grey bony threads of
    sickle-clouds..
    The and before sometimes in the first line seems to indicate that sometimes, when the moon sucks woods…and chiff-chaffs stick their bony threads of sickle-clouds, you, the poet, need to be remembered when, after all, you are really
    …a
    graft
    a slump and spendage
    that is:
    around the shoulders
    of stalwart better things.
    You are sugarcrafted wind, a pause who, when the moon sucks wood and chiff-chaffs stick their nosey points toward-sickle clouds, is really a graft, a slump and spendage draped around the shoulders of more hardy, better things.
    This is quite a poem.

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    • Thomas, thank you so much for this! This is the most comprehensive analysis of a poem I’ve written so far – you’ve really spotted everything, I love seeing it like this. 🙂 I’m so grateful to you~ x

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  31. Eve,

    Enjoyed the above post (great rhythm)…
    Thank you for sharing this with us.
    I look forward to reading many more of your posts.

    Thanks again!

    Phil Edwards

    Reply

  33. Wonderful poem, Stacey, one to come back to time after time.

    Especially like ‘as of the wind / sugarcrafted on the skin’ and the terrific line about ‘when the moon sucks …’ brilliant 🙂

    Reply

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