The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Fri 11/21/2008)

[RetroLounge]

When I Was the Muse

When the painter said, OK, you guys,
take off your clothes! I startled at the plural,
assuming I'd been engaged to model by myself.
But then the dark-skinned god I knew as Aaron
from my Econ class unzipped his jeans,
and dropped them, grinning, on the floor.
So I did, too, and clambered up beside him
on the plywood box that elevated us above
the clutch of paint-stained easels. Thoughtfully,
the students posed our naked bodies. Someone fluffed
the crispy hair between my legs into a dark brown
bristling fan. And someone pinched the sides
of Aaron's face to pinken up his cheeks.
Privately, I installed myself inside that mental space
where I had hidden as a child when the world
could be aborted no other way . . .

It was part of my plan to walk unclothed
among the portraits my unclad body
had provoked. So when we broke
for lunch, the students lunging in a herd
out back to smoke, I did. If you had asked me
then why I modeled, I'd have said,
to overcome my bourgeois insecurities,
to combat my fear of what might happen
if I showed myself completely naked
to someone else. But if you asked me now?
I'd describe the privilege of walking among
a museum of strangers' images devoted to oneself,
and tell you what a privilege it was to see myself
the varied ways that others did.

Some silly fellow had painted nipples on me the size
and shape of frying eggs. Another jokester
had shrunk them down as small as M&Ms.
But someone serious and sad had shared a vision
of my head as a clotted orb of hair and mouth,
and brushed in underneath, a body headless
as the horseman in the myth. Then I seemed
to walk into the darkroom of my mind's own eye
and saw the self I'd always felt inside but never known:
a complicated, unsmiling creature with a fear-tinged face.
Around her the aura of something golden was fighting
with whip-like straps of something black. She was staring
straight into the future, trying to get out, trying
to conceal her fear, completely unaware
of how it glistened and glowed, and of how
irresistible it was for the artist to spread it
across the canvas so that everyone could see.

Kate Daniels

**************

:hi:

RL

[Heidi]

1. Wow.

This is authentic and beautiful. Thank you for this.

[RetroLounge]

9. Hey, good to see you!

:hi:

RL

[blueraven95]

2. wow.

:hi:



I hope you have a good weekend!

[RetroLounge]

10. Thanks

You too!

:hi:

RL

[Chorophyll]

3. In the olden days when I was a Fine Arts major,

I used to marvel at the women who were willing to model for our classes. They seemed so mysterious and confident. I assumed they must all live in off-campus housing with sophisticated older lovers. Now I wonder.

Sorry, I should probably go write something, instead of rambling here. :)

:hi:

[RetroLounge]

11. So what are you writing?

and rambling here is encouraged...

:hi:

RL

[Chorophyll]

21. Short stories, mostly.

I actually had two poems accepted by a lit mag last year, but that was a fluke. :)

[RetroLounge]

22. Yay for accepted poems!

:D

RL

[Chorophyll]

23. Yay!

At least I can call myself a "published author!" :hi:

[RetroLounge]

24. My last published poem was 15 yrs ago...

can I still call myself a "published author?"

:hi:

RL

[peruban]

4. I'll take a stab at this one

"The Innumerable"

Caught, like mouse in trap
Wriggling and writhing with ecstasy
I pondered on the fate of these young children
Whose mouths still smelled sweet of persimmons

Whence shall we go? Who is our Moses?
The tall man in the moorish skin stands firm
With hands open he clenches the yoke of the hunters
Behind a paper dais he stands.

The mound of bodies have spoken
They have spoken with their flesh
With their bones, with their souls
And now as the new day dawns

We see each other as we truly are.
Fragile humans blowing in the wind.

********************************************

Damn, it's been a long time since I did something like that.

[RetroLounge]

12. ...

:hi:

RL

[peruban]

5. I like your details, and the attention to self awareness

But it seemed more prose than poetry to me, but that's always been a fine line anyway. Nice job, I hope to see more of this kind of stuff here.

[RetroLounge]

8. I post a poem here every morning...

Oh, and I am not the author. I pick a poem and post one every morning, been doing it for about 3 years.

Check my journal for all previous poem threads...

:hi:

RL

[peruban]

18. ah, ok. I'll look for your thread , then

And hope to see this thread again tomorrow.

[RetroLounge]

19. Sent you a PM

:hi:

RL

[peruban]

20. Thanks, hope to see you around. n/m

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. damn.

that took ovaries! :donut: :hi:

[RetroLounge]

13. Hee

:hi:

RL

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear Retro!

Wow...

The vision of the inside

While looking at what's not hidden, on the outside...

Thank you

[RetroLounge]

14. ...

:hug:

RL

[Ysabel]

15. oh nice...

really very...

so much nicer than arguing (with some dummy heh) about capitalism upstairs...

- ah it's just what i needed...

:)

[RetroLounge]

16. Thanks!

So How's mad-town doing these days?

:hi:

RL

[Ysabel]

17. hi / thanks you too and...

things are great here...

- i hope all is well with you also / nice seeing you again... :)