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Collage: A Cold Wind Across The Waves

by Paul Lastovica

~
The Clan Lord lays dying
The hand falls away
The old soldier cries aloud
"take me to our new lord"
~       ~          ~
	
                         The correct angle
                         The ribbon
                         The rich aristocracy
                         a delicious shiver of danger

~     ~
         The arrangement was made
         The sun was setting
         The last dying rays
         deepened the sea to lilac
~       ~          ~

                         The drowsy summer night
                         The blue liveries
                         The warm air tasted like
                         a pool of midnight
	
~     ~
         The soft silk of skin
         The razor tip of a sabre
         The portrait painter
         stumbled blindly on
~       ~          ~

                         The old rose garden
                         The passageway up the stairs
                         The stench of spilled blood
                         toward the cliffs, dreaming

~     ~
         The strict rules of court protocol
         The sweet warmth of breath
         The dark curls
         soft as a sable brush

~

04/06/2016

Author's Note: Source:
Lord of Snow and Shadows
Prologue & Chapter 1:
©2003 Sarah Ash
**Many thanks for Laura Doom, this poem now looks pretty much exactly how I want it.**

Posted on 04/07/2016
Copyright © 2024 Paul Lastovica

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Laura Doom on 04/07/16 at 04:20 PM

You can place the poem text inside opening <pre> & closing </pre> tags, which preserves the spatial formatting, though you'll also have to remove all the <br> tags within the poem, and ensure the Limited HTML Conversion (preserve line breaks) option isn't checked.
To preserve the default Pathorg font (which I believe is Verdana), the opening tag should read something like
<pre style="font:normal 11px verdana, 'sans serif'">
otherwise the pre[formatted] element uses a monospace fixed-width font by default, usually 'Courier New'.

Posted by Laura Doom on 04/07/16 at 04:53 PM

...and first (in retrospect), a taste of tainted honey--Snow White greets the Sun of Pestilence in The Garden of Ethical Amnesia.
The elemental contrasts play implicitly with waves and shadows.

Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 04/09/16 at 05:24 PM

Really enjoyed this collage of scenes from a specific place and time. Something about "the portrait painter stumbled blindly on" that makes me think of all the kings and leaders and their halls filled with the next and the next portrait, succession and deaths and defeats. Thanks for this.

Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 04/13/16 at 08:51 PM

Excellent latest installment and continuation of style. Lively and thought provoking as always Paul. Thanks also to Laura for the guidance.

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