Sunday, January 31, 2016

Time Turning

Before I tasted Plath
and before Anne Sexton made forty
look like the perfect age,
there were fairies.

They hid in the grasses
and wove flowers in my hair
with their tiny wicked finger.
They pulled down clouds from the sky.

There was magic in music.
Lyrics, iridescent bubbles of thought,
forced air into my lungs
and my vision transmuted to color.

Do you remember the fairies?
They crowned me their queen.
You knelt, green, at my feet,
and I, flushed pink, kissed your brow.

Before rain streaked the horizon,
melting the snow drops,
sparklers arrived, lit and lustrous,
in the mailbox.

They turned to jewels,
dropped in my ribs' repository.
I never see them anymore.
I don't care to, but they changed me.

Returning to the fairies, however-
I can't forget the scent, then.
It trips me on a lonely sidewalk
and teases in crowded passageways.





14 comments:

  1. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! I think you must be me in a parallel reality. And you've written it perfectly.

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  2. Beautiful... love the old magic that trips one on lonely sidewalks!

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  3. This is a poem to be very proud of. I think it is excellent, both in composition and content.

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  4. This is an excellent poem.

    I don't remember the fairies, but I'm sure they were with me. I "read" Plath and Sexton at a very young age, meaning that I too was exposed to bitter truth far too early. But hey, that's what makes great poetry. So even though it changed you, at least you have a place of rawness from which to write.

    The first three stanzas are my favorites, by the way.

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  5. Oh for me I guess it was spaceships... but there are poems and songs in them to... what a wonderful walk... I wonder if there are any fairies with Plath or Sexton.

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  6. I LOVE this! Back then, there were fairies for me, too.

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  7. 'returning to the fairies' is such an endearing line

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  8. Oh, yeah. I remember the sparklers in my mailbox, too. This is really lovely, Cami.

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  9. this was so attributable to the references you made in the first verse. and i'm sure your soul because of the spirit of this message will be youthful and filled with verve for much more time.

    gracias for sharing

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  10. As yes we grow older, but some memories of youth still guide our footsteps; Nice write

    much love...

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  11. Oh, when time was full of magic...Life seems to rob us of fairies, but once in a while we can feel their wings. Beautiful piece

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  12. This would make Tori Amos proud! This is absolutely beautiful sweet sister! 💓

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