Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lying in Wait (Poem)

Lying in Wait

They want us to look up
to them, always be available

to smooth the crooked creases
between their brows, tell

them nightly, cool sheets pulled
down, who is lord and king

of all that they survey. Their voices,
raised against pursed lips, put us

in our places, a single sonic boom
enough to collapse the thinning walls

we build to shield our hearts' too
-quick beatings from pricked up ears.

They count on strength in numbers,
spit-blackened boots and push-button

armored personnel. We bide time's
hand sure on own own, content

to wait until the palace dogs have
stretched and yawned.

© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas
______________________________________

This poem is my response to today's photo prompt at Magpie Tales.

Write your own poem or flash fiction response to the prompt, using the image provided, then go here to add your own link and to read and comment on the other participants' contributions.

13 comments:

Louise Gallagher said...

What a fabulous respone to the photo prompt -- which looks like a tough photo to write to btw and you made it look so easy!

S. Etole said...

I had to go look at the photo prompt after reading this and now I understand better.

Anonymous said...

for awhile i thought it was about the primary elections...

Laura said...

Oh, wow. I guess I'm feeling mom-wounds today...imagining my son's wrinkle between the brow. But now, I must go see the actual prompt and figure some more. I love a poem that makes me do that. :)

Brian Miller said...

ugh...nice word choices that set a very unsettling tone to this...the sonic boom voice to shatter the walls...the beatings...the needing to hear us tell them who is king...nice write maureen...

Unknown said...

Wow, Maureen, it's been a while since I've visited your site and your work is as stellar as ever. You diction is precise, the form is inviting and not too cumbersome. The poem begs a second read simply because it is good.

http://www.kimnelsonwrites.com/2012/01/08/lee-me-a-fantasy/

Hannah Stephenson said...

This was chilling to me...amd I love what you did with the "put us/ in our places" line breaks...

Maureen said...

"unsettling" and "chilling": exactly as I meant the poem to be. Thank you!

It would be rare for me to interpret an image in any literal way. The photo for the prompt had a lot to do with what's out-size, mythic, hard and overbearing, and I tried to apply the sense of those to a perspective on relationships between men and women (as my labels indicate).

signed...bkm said...

The title is great and the dogs lying stretching and yawning - as one observes life from a distance....bkm

Anonymous said...

very sublime take on the prompt. i like it.

days of cohan

Wayne Pitchko said...

nicely done with the prompt...thanks for sharing your words

hyperCRYPTICal said...

I like it too!

Anna :o]

Tess Kincaid said...

I like the image of the palace dogs at the end...