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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Whale Hips

Whales have hipbones
though they no longer walk on land
The remnant of a past life
lingers
well beyond its usefulness

Perhaps this is analogous
to the love I still feel for you
and the hurt 
that
I haven't seen you
or talked to you
in decades

The past
imprints itself on the present
Vestigial feelings
Meaningless and wasted
Saved like an old sweater that no longer fits
but was once was so soft and warm
that you just can't give it up.

submitted for Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Obscuring the Truth With Facts, Out of Standard

12 comments:

Susie Clevenger said...

Love this..."The remnant of a past life lingers well beyond its usefulness" I think many of us have bits of a former relationship lingering we won't/don't surrender to forgetting.

Hannah said...

Oh my goodness. You did it...you absolutely nailed this. I love, LOVE the way you made this fact poetry, pure poetry. Perfect. You make me want to try again! Lol!

Margaret said...

Oh, this is really ingenious and to think such beauty came from what seemed to be a crazy and difficult prompt! Brava!

cosmos cami said...

Oooh, love it! Way to take a fact and use it to great advantage!
This resonates with me.

Marcoantonio Arellano (Nene) said...

turning a fact to faction.

from 'whale hips' to a heart scorned, wow.

nice job, mi amiga

Magaly Guerrero said...

This is fantastic!

Life might mark us indeed. But nothing says those marks need to have a lasting effect--we evolve and so do our relationships. Love the message.

Susan said...

I like your parallels here, though I think a whale's hips and my old worn sweater are lots more comfortable than the old loves. Wait, though, I have one--17 years gone--who has begun to be nothing but peace to me. It took a very long time--like the whale's time--for the loss to be worn enough for comfort. Grin.

Ella said...

Wow, this is bravo goodness!
Beautifully done! It tugs on my heart-

Isadora Gruye said...

Stunning work here....I even like how the shape of the piece mimics it's own pattern! Beautiful work ....viva la

Anonymous said...

Lola, you nailed this. To. The. Wall.

I didn't know about the whalebones, but I have long maintained that we have more in common with whales and dolphins/porpoises (probably more the latter, since they are mammals) than we ever did with apes. Thanks for teaching me something new in this bittersweet poem of lost love.

Amy via Toads

Jim said...

Wonderful, Lola M. I wonder if any of my old girl friends feel that way about me? Perhaps but I won't know because I won't find them. The all change their names or aren't on F.B. with their real names.

I like the tattoo but if I had one it would be a small butterfly. And maybe a bird or two, depending on where I would put them.
..

Kerry O'Connor said...

I love how you linked the fact to human emotions... It was such an "Aaaahhh...." moment for me: the useless hips still present, the memory of someone once held so dear.