This week’s Little Vines.
4323.
a knotted harangue
looped around his neck –
a necktie or a noose?
4324.
I rummage
inside my mood painted dull blue
I know there is pink and gold in here somewhere.
4325.
I was family do you know
and bloodcurdling as you may remember those days
still, I was family. Curdling blood with the rest of you.
4326.
our grief defying expression
the complacent grammar of our language
insufficient to our needs
4327.
find me the moodiest bulldozer
and yet he too will break into a smile
mowing down your putrid rancid arguments
4328.
The water heater noticed a certain glassy vapidness
in the large round eye of the washing machine
Made a note:
maybe we have to work together but we don’t have to be friends
4329.
The split in Model 2468 Satin Dream’s side seam
five minutes before the wedding march began to play
set off some dressy swearing all right
4330.
a rusted-out water heater
glares at me from its dark corner under the stairs –
a grim portrait of what it’s like to be just hanging on
4331.
malfunction of the fire sprinkler system
and dozens of well-dressed well-heeled partygoers
synchronized swim around the sodden ballroom
4332.
her perfume
the scent draped around her shoulders
like a soft cashmere shrug
4333.
she had just the one enemy
money pride
but it ate up everything else in her life
4334.
I pour that radioactive liquid into my cup
I marvel at the glowing silver tea leaves
I stir with my singular green fingers and drink.
Be more careful how you treat me.
4335.
empty beer bottles
arrayed on the concrete wall
barely visible in the fog
sweat in rivulets
4336.
the last maraschino cherry
skips around the bottle
as you tilt it
4337.
The family arrayed around
the bragging gravestone
appropriate exrpessions on their faces
4338.
Simpering clams, you said?
No, simmering clams.
Oh. I did wonder how you could tell.
4339.
the farce jams
the joke stalls
the laughter never leaves first gear
4340.
the shy wren
gossips revenge
via her surprisingly exuberant glossary
4341.
the evasive waitress
the ancient oscillating fan
the tiki torches out front
4342.
a pair of gloves in the morning.
a to-and-fro on-and-off lost-and-not-found kind of day.
Nightfall. One glove floats in a slushy puddle.
The other’s in the trash at home. Who needs just one glove?
4343.
the delicate veins
of pearlescent sap
just visible under her skin
4344.
Professor Exotic’s knitting website
features a tube sock in a stripe pattern
suitable for a large serpent
4345.
the orange dregs of this bitter drink
heedlessly handled carelessly spilled
etch a stealthy circle on the concrete floor
I am enjoying this batch, particularly the “simpering clams”, 4338, because it reminds me of one of my favourite cartoons. Also Professor Exotic, as I have seen many a tube sock that would be better employed as you suggest! Thanks for a good start to the day. If I may I will repost your clam vine with a photo of the cartoon on my own WordPress page.
[…] one from her recent post reminded me, of one of my all time favourite cartoons by Clement. […]
Fantastic! I’m intrigued by what connection you’ve come up with! And Professor Exotic thanks you. As for me, I’m interested in the fact that you are writing to me from tomorrow! (From my standpoint).
The future reaches out to the past.😉
I like the serpent sweater too. And the color rummaging.
I used to have many single gloves, but I did finally trash them in the second to last move. I always thought the other one would turn up. (K)
When I was younger I kept single gloves and wore unmatched pairs. Some thrift measures die hard, I learned this habit growing up. Now I turn them into something else, toys, etc., or just use them for the fabric. Still thrift but not as severe.
I truly don’t know how you do it each and every time but every single one of these LVs is an absolute winner. 4332 made me think of my Gran who wore different perfumes for different moods. 4343 seems to me to be very evocative of the skin of very old people, that delicate paper thin texture it develops, and it therefore seems poignant to me to think about the sap below the surface, that vitality. 4325 is so resonant with me that it could have been inspired by a conversation I was having with my siblings recently.
I’ve been known to use them for art. Long ago though…
Wow, this makes me feel great. Thank you. I feel this week there is a lot of me looking back at the past (in the oblique ways the LV’s encourage and require). I realize this year, more than any other than I can remember, that there are dividing lines in life and I feel I have crossed one into a new land where the scenery is different, the landmarks have to be found, etc. That is where this week in LV’s is coming from, I think.