Balm (image) by Lacy D Phillips
Balm
I lay flat and inhale the autumn,
laying away stores of sun-warmed hours
for the long months of short days.
I am waiting for the hurt to decay,
for the vagueries of anger to decompose
as if the byproduct of healing
(which I suppose to be hope)
could somehow be burnt
to fuel my triumph over suffering
or as an offering...
Time has a mind all its own in this season.
Whole afternoons drift and flare out
like dust motes in a shaft of light.
Lunch hours devoured by daydreams.
I am waiting for my life to flare
or for the dispersal of despair.
09/27/2006 12/25/2006 Author's Note: This was one of those "came to me on the verge of falling asleep" things. It's an image based on the images in "Balm". The idea was to incorporate all the images in the poem into one visual composition. I mocked it up in physical digital form just to get it out of my head before I forget it, but these aren't the images I want to work with as they're just placeholders that I found on the net until I can capture originals of my own. Eventually, this will be a large-scale multi-media collage with a working clockface and a real fried hard drive.
Posted on 12/25/2006 Copyright © 2025 Lacy D Phillips
Member Comments on this Poem |
Posted by Shirin Swift on 12/26/06 at 01:39 PM A very innovative (visual) poem with many interesting dissolving flavors and lingering images. I particularly enjoyed the poetics in the last stanza. |
Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 06/07/07 at 01:49 AM Intriguing tie between illustration and poem. Expression of mixed emotions of enjoyment of fading summer and anxious looking toward winter. Used effectively as an analogy of dealing emotionally with life. |
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