Monday, July 14, 2014

Fluttering Pages

F. Scott Fitzgerald was
a wild-hearted man
with tame eyebrows. His
shadowed eyes eclipsed
by sharp lines of his nose,
the bloated thump-thump from his
smooth chest ticked the moments
in his lovers’ ears.

A wild-hearted man
seeks a wilder-hearted mate.

He is
destined to be scorned by
glass-box hearts
and mothball ears
and gloves made of
still-furred skins.

He is destined to be scorned
by me.

I was
too bad to be good
and too good to be true

made-up girl
with talons and fangs
with the surest smile
you ever did see -
A Cathy, specter of spirit upon the moor
and Alice perched on the fluff of mush
room where Stella can still scream, flushed.

(if I had been real,
I would have had ears
I would have had eyes
I would have been wise.
I would have loved unabashed,
dismantled our masks
tattooed your heart
on my skin o’er my ribs,
my talisman,
a war medal
promising
peace.

And then
I would have started
all over again.)

2 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ha. i like those last could verses....smiling at the last line...starting again...i know a bit of gatsby...never saw the newest make of the movie though with di caprio...and other than reading gatsby i dont know much of him....

Sweeper of Dreams said...

Ah, Gatsby was always one of my least favorites, but it certainly catches his general subjects... I'm a sucker for his short stories, though! The Ice Palace and The Four Fists might be my favorites. :) Cheers!