Three poems by AB

[archaeobard]

Hey all, thought I would post a few poems I wrote that were inspired by the characters developed by Sarah Waters in her novel Fingersmith. Other people have read them and they are available for all to see, but no-one has really run a critical eye over them. I'd like a little deconstruction if I could. I suppose you could call them unrequited love poems.

Cheers.

 

Spoken

 

I cannot own what is spoken,

For the words are not mine,

Not mine by far.

They are the words of some

Other creature that sits

In waiting,

A creature that comes and

Watches through my very own eye

And sees.

The things it sees!

It sees your look,

Your languid pose without reason.

And I fear.

I fear the creature will roil,

And seep and climb through

My breast to reach and pull and touch

And be known for what it is.

 

These Drops

 

These drops that fall are not tears,

Rather they are pearls

Cultured from sorrow,

Grown around a grain

Intentionally placed

To wear out my heart and

Issue forth a life on a lie.

How can these things

Be pure, be good, be innocent?

They are wrack and ruin,

Like the half formed stricture

Of a scruple

Now pulled tight to condemn.

 

Truth

 

I feel you,

A fire's glow at my back,

Cushioned against me.

Touching but not touching quite.

If I were to move

An inch this way or that,

Would you shiver?

Would you quake?

Would you feel it as I?

Would you feel it as a thing

That must be breathed down slowly

Or else surrender?

Would it creep upon you?

Would you let it flow through,

Or would you turn with indifferent eyes

From me?

Would you pretend there was nothing?

Would you fancy it a feeling lacking substance,

A spectre of truth,

A disease that might be cured by ignorance?

For it is true, they say, if you lie often,

It will be the truth you hear.