(broken skin) human origami by Richard Paezlittera scripta manet
now we can pretend that everything is as it should be now we can descend along the path of routine pleasantries all of yours you hold with you and all of mine i hold with me
i watch transfixed as you fold in on yourself becoming trapped in the seams of a human origami i can see reflected in your glossy paper eyes i too am factored by Molochs geometry
we arent people by any definition now we are constructs formed of tissue the razors edge of Molochs irony is that folded right beside you, i still miss you
of all we could have been and once were remains now only two bent thirds
your angles suggest the sparrow yet your folds cannot support you my intersections form the flower i feel your sun, but i cannot bloom
these eyes wont cry when i remember those days when we had skies instead of ceilings those days when your touch was soft skin not this paper, parched and peeling
lying on this bed of dream beside you i can see but not oblige you
and the perfect teeth of Molochs grin is the whiteness of our paper skin and the lips he licks with his black tongue is the shelf he keeps us displayed on and the reeking breath from his gorgeous mouth is the dream that keeps us folded up, that forever locks us out 09/25/2001 Author's Note: littera scripta manet - Latin, "the written word remains."
This is one of the four poems published in Tallahassee Community College's Literary Magazine The Eerie in 2001. The staff of The Eerie over-honored me for the two years I submitted poems as a student at TCC. I send them all my love and respect.
Posted on 09/19/2002 Copyright © 2024 Richard Paez
Member Comments on this Poem |
Posted by Bethany Lee on 10/20/02 at 02:35 PM so real poetry flows through your fingertips onto the screen, and i am overwhelmed by your precious words...my oh my...you surf the poetry titlewaves and fall across something that simply utters everything you are thinking of at the moment...this is a piece to add to my collection of poems that truly effected me...thankyou...truly...-v |
Posted by Michele Schottelkorb on 10/13/03 at 05:12 AM the imagery from this poem lit my senses and made my heart weep for the sad darkness... excellent verse and thank you for the author's note, it was very enlightening... blessings... |
Posted by Joseff Marat on 11/20/05 at 08:49 AM This is a guaranteed fave! Really great word usage and grouping. It's really interesting to read this - this was today's spotlight poem and was published as just one sentence after another - no paragraphs. It was really interesting to read that way, I won't lie. But, just great stuff man. I'm compelled to read the others. |
Posted by Laura Doom on 11/20/05 at 05:55 PM Intense dream-like retrospective - having read the author's note, I was tempted to deconstruct with a view to identifying a Fibonacci sequence embedded within :> |
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