Sunday 28 June 2015

Plain speak





I want to speak to you so simply
so gently, just a tremor of air and silence,
a caress against the shell of your ear
without explanations of context
just the heel of one word followed by the next
just their bare feet touching down lightly
leaving no footprints, no tracks, not even a trace;
a breath of air mussing the hair
of palm trees in the sunset;
a finger brushing your cheekbones, your temples
so slight the movement that when
you look you feel nothing there. 


I want to speak to you without
quotes from the great classical poets,
without dropping the names of ancient philosophers,
without allusions to the scriptures -
yours or mine or theirs;
I want to speak like a dragonfly
wing falling on your forehead;
like the flight of a beetle
in the dozy afternoon breeze;
like an eddy of wind shrugging onto
its shoulders a mantle of spicy smells
proffered by a sunlit eucalyptus.


I want to speak to you, not like a poet
not declaim anything
in eloquent firework arcs;
no snowstorms of smileys
or fascinated words, open-mouthed,
arms flung up in frenzied spikes.
Just ordinary words, plain
and beautiful bare-bodied, unadorned, lithe;
their natural playfulness
the leap of dolphins against waves;
like a faraway whale song for
its mate across the oceans
so far and so soft its cadence
that when it fades you realise
that I have sat, my pulse under yours,
in an aching, haunting melody of silence
all through this evening
in the velvet waterfall of darkness.





And not to declaim or anything, but am delighted to report that the monthly bloghop - Write...Edit...Publish   hosted originally by Denise Covey is back in business!!! :~) And Yolanda Renee, awesome murder mystery writer and a friend, is co-hosting :~) I see some big, fat, richly interesting prompts coming!


19 comments:

  1. I love the pregnant pause in this Nila. Thanks for supporting the return of WEP too. The fun will begin again.

    Greetings from Noumea. I'm having a blast.

    Denise :-)

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    1. Look forward to the WEP fun. All the best to you and Yolanda both!

      Enjoy the rest of your trip, look forward to hearing about that too.

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  2. Speak simply and clearly - nice!
    Glad the bloghop is coming back.

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  3. Nila, such a lovely piece, breathtaking, haunting, and oh so sweet! A message from the hero to his lover?

    Thank you so much for the WEP support, it's exciting to see it all over the web today! Celebrating the return of awesome flash fiction fun!

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    1. Thanks Yolanda! So glad to see the come back, and look forward to some major flash fiction fun!

      Best always.

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  4. Reads like a lovely song, I really enjoyed this. Well done!

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Your eyes burned into my soul
      Your caress set my heart a flame
      Still you uttered no words to me
      I want not, unspoken words

      For I long to hear those words
      to feel them brushing my ears
      Words to hold my heart like
      a new born for the first time

      Words caressing me in the softness
      of understanding, joy, life and love
      Knowing, tho we are not one
      we’ll always be one, for eternity


      Your poem, Wow very nice

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    2. Thank you. The format of your comment is, as usual, delightful :-)

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  6. Terrifically composed, Nilanjana! Loved it:)

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  7. Beautiful , caressing and velvety ! enjoyed it to bits :)

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    1. Thanks much Kokila! First time a poem of mine has been called velvety :) seriously chuffed!

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    2. and I was seriously affected by the emotional flow... velvet touch :) :)

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  8. I love the sense of lightness... breathlessness.
    Beautiful flow.
    Love the dolphin image too.

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes the reader sums it up in a word that has eluded the writer! Breathlessness - bingo! Thanks so much, Michelle.

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