Hors d’oeuvre over,
trussed like a turkey,
main course coming all too soon,
mother bird opens,
frightened chick plummets.
All life flashes past
for the weightless floater -
a yank on a cord
and the sky stands still.
Entr’acte of calm until
faster, the ground climbs
to meet the falling feather.
The feather becomes lead
and drills the earth.
This is an old poem that I have edited a bit, for Open Link Night at the Imaginary Garden and dVerse Poets’ Pub
the feather becomes lead… Metaphors can be very tricky, but it looks like you’ve got them all figured out!
I love this Viv. A great metaphor for the passage of time. It seems to stop in the middle – leaving us floating forever something and then suddenly accelerates to the end as we become less able to do anything quickly. Well done! I enjoyed it very much.
Parachuting scares the bejeesus out of me. This was a great take on the prompts, and the last two lines were so thoughtfully placed, so real, so great. Love it, Viv! Amy
Yeah, very well done, I had to read this a few times to get the complete picture. The mother bird is of course the aeroplane and the frightened chick (trussed like a turkey) is the parachutist who plummets to earth etc.
Mine’s HERE
I don’t know if this is about bird hunting and the baby bird gets shot, and out of sequence event, as mommy birds should never have to see their babies shot out of the sky. TO me a sad write, but very poignant, timely and touching to me anyway. You are very talented.
Andy has it – it’s all in the title: this is a human being making a parachute jump. The allusion to feather is the weightlessness of free fall turning into real weight as the ground approaches.
see the feather becoming lead and drilling the earth is what keeps me on the ground…or at least in airplanes and not floating free….ha…i would be the one hoping the sky stopped just that moment….smiles.
that last line is SOME powerful image and metaphor!!
Verification makes it really hard to comment, takes a few times sometimes. you’d probably get more comments if you turned it off.
I don’t have verification turned on! You are the first to mention this is in three years of blogging, so I wonder if there is something your end?
i think it must be absolutely fascinating… what thrill and peace between earth and sky..nice…
Loved the way you mixed those metaphors and came up with a winner, Viv.
K
Glad you didn’t add something like ‘splat’ at the end. Poor little thing…
Oh I like this one! Love the image.
Yes, strong imagery. It seems we go through life on a parachute at times…..and the fall is that feather drilling the earth that you speak of.
argh, i’m faallllllling! love it.
I love “The feather becomes lead and drills the earth.”
This is very cleverly done, Viv.
Oh, ouch!! I love that sky standing still moment when the chute is pulled, Viv!
I feel for the chick, that’s how strong your imagery is.:)
All those mixed metaphors made me laugh. Don’t they jump out at you when reading?
very strong imagery here viv.