| Author | Message | ||
| Teresa White
Valued Member Username: teresa_white Post Number: 220 Registered: 01-2005 |
Losing My Voice I left my voice under a rock down by the river. I try to pry it loose but all I get are bloodied nails. My voice is in a cloisonné box on top of the dresser. I rifle through the gold chains, amethyst rings, but it stays hidden, something not meant for every day. Sunk into the walls of the living room, the pitch of my anger one afternoon sent it scurrying behind the family photos, the watercolors I painted for you. My voice won’t get out of bed in the morning. It screams at the alarm clock going off. In the afternoon it croaks like it has something to say but I know better. Syllables clog up my throat; nouns and verbs refuse to cooperate. I’ve taken to writing everything down so you can understand me but you can’t read my snaky scrawl. My voice is a crow’s caw; there are no translators. I’m an Egyptian slave without a tongue. I gesture frantically as huge boulders roll into place. If I could speak I’d plead with Ramses in his sarcophagus, but he is deaf among the golden chairs, the obsidian cats. | ||
| Allen Itz
Member Username: allenitz Post Number: 90 Registered: 08-2005 |
good work, teresa. writer's block nailed, like the pictures to the wall. seems like blocked is like some many other things, the best way around it is to write about it. that's my experience, anyway. allen the book, "seven beats a second," a collaboration between an old poet and a young artist, plus "chimeras, ideal, errors!," a music CD of jazz improvisation by The Ray-Guhn Show Choir, available now for only $20. | ||
| LJ Cohen
Moderator Username: ljc Post Number: 3286 Registered: 07-2002 |
Teresa, Excellent carry through of the extended metaphor in this one. I especially liked the Eqyptian metaphor at the end. best, ljc http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/ | ||
| michael julius sottak
Advanced Member Username: julius Post Number: 1741 Registered: 12-2003 |
T... I loved this... (and the doctor recommends that you take a shot of whiskey in the morning to loosen the vowels in your throat) | ||
| Penelope
Intermediate Member Username: penelope Post Number: 396 Registered: 07-2005 |
Teresa, I could really feel this. It felt like something other than writer's block. It's the failure to make one's self understood that is so silencing. This was a powerful expression of that for me. Penelope | ||
| Teresa White
Valued Member Username: teresa_white Post Number: 224 Registered: 01-2005 |
Thanks, Allen. Yes, it's so true that the best way around writer's block is to write about it. Thanks, Lisa. Glad that the extended metaphor works for you here and pleased you like the Egyptian metaphor at the close. Thanks, Michael. Guess I should take that whiskey in the morning! So pleased you like the poem. Thanks, Penelope. You nailed it. This is about writer's block but also what you said --about a failure to make one's self understood. My best to each of you, Teresa | ||
| Cary
Intermediate Member Username: ponderlust Post Number: 405 Registered: 07-2005 |
Teresa... I can see a beautiful paradox in all of this. In all your pointings at how lost your voice is, you've proved how ubiquitous it really is. While the title says "losing your voice", I must insist that you exemplify finding it (wonderfully). IMO, a voice is still a voice even if it isn't heard. ;) Cary... | ||
| Teresa White
Valued Member Username: teresa_white Post Number: 225 Registered: 01-2005 |
Thanks, Cary, for the very kind words about this piece. Interesting for me to read I exemplify "finding" my voice. I agree: a voice is still a voice even if it isn't heard. Best, Teresa | ||
| Laurie Byro
Advanced Member Username: lauriette Post Number: 1369 Registered: 11-2003 |
i like this too, Teresa, it works on various levels, and is a damned clever poem laurie now, help me find MINE :P | ||
| Teresa White
Valued Member Username: teresa_white Post Number: 254 Registered: 01-2005 |
Thanks, Laurie!! You mean you've lost your voice too --nah, your writing is as good as ever. Best, Teresa |
