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The Remains of Beauty
by Ken HarnischWhen the soft erotic coils of night
Had wrapped her in its arms at last
She came in off the porch
Pretending she was looking for her shawl.
The light was burning in the kitchen
And perhaps his mind; it was always
Hard to tell with him, who sat there brooding
In his cups, oft labeling it profundity
She eyed his bottle of Profound and
Snorted; For the moment hovering
In regret, remembering a wedding
Where music and gaiety ruled, and love, maybe
Passing by the mirror in the hall
She looked in on the remains
Of Beauty, long since robbed of
All Purpose and Desire to be more
Her face contorted in familiar places
Anger and Blame falling on his
Shoulders in attenuated pulses
That matched the drumming in her heart
But as she slipped the shawl on
And pondered once more the rationale
For Murder, she sighed, too much
In love with sanity to pretend he
Bore all responsibility
For the absence of her own 12/09/2006 Posted on 12/10/2006
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Kathleen Wilson on 12/10/06 at 02:51 AM A tantalizing and restrained yet luscious poem. There is elegance and pace given to this scene, the luxuriant beginning in the "coils of night", the only embrace she feels, beyond her shawl. The silence and introspection here have a presence and the capitalization of the important elements, Desire, Beauty, Anger, Blame, Murder gives a formality to motives and characters. The lack of periods except one--give it significance, and one tends to read the ending right into the beginning and stop after the first four lines. |
| Posted by Lacy D Phillips on 12/10/06 at 07:55 AM This has such specific gravity. |
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