The dead woman
wants to embrace you;
she is watching
as you sleep.
The dead woman
regrets that her children
are no longer babies.
She wants to hang on.
The dead woman
smells flowers with gusto
taking long sniffs,
then tastes them.
The dead woman
has no hat for the sun.
She lets the heat
burst on her face.
The dead woman
in front of the television
sits without turning it on.
She has x-ray vision.
The dead woman
is a camera. She dreams
of a hoard of images
and snaps and keeps them.
The dead woman
bailing herself out of jail
tells herself that the rain
will wash away prison stink.
The dead woman
is laughing
because being dead
is nothing like she expected.
For a dVerse prompt: write from the perspective of dead man, or woman (based on Marvin Bell's 'Dead Man' poems). I wrote this when I was very tired and half-asleep, so as to let the ideas well up from the subconscious. I wanted a different kind of logic from the everyday.
I discovered the form needs a part 2: 'More About ...' It is here.
Seems to be OK being dead.. the X-ray vision would be cool.. maybe a great change still tied to the mundane of television and such
ReplyDeleteYes, that's right.
Deletealive in a new sort of way...
ReplyDeleteExactly!
Deletesmiles...i like the thought of her as a camera taking those pictures that she wants to keep....and i like her humor in that it is not what you might expect...being dead...
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's what we make it ... but this dead woman hasn't figured that out yet.
DeleteVery clever, Rosemary. I am sure that being dead will be nothing like we all expect.... I laughed about the dead woman in front of the TV. Probably this stanza could reflect the lives of many living 'dead women' as well.
ReplyDeleteI hoped the x-ray vision would work. I was thinking of it in the way Superman has x-ray vision, rather than a more scientifically accurate way.
DeleteWell I can imagine how freeing and so different it can be ~ I like that she is a camera and laughing at the end ~
ReplyDeleteThanks for participating Rosemary and wishing you happy week ~
A phenomenal prompt, Grace — so many brilliant, beautiful poems arose from it.
DeleteI wonder if what you say will be true for all of us - that being dead will be nothing like expected. Great write. Your subconscious is very alive.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Myrna.
DeleteGroovy piece. Love the third stanza.
ReplyDeleteThat's my own favourite too.
DeleteI especially like watching the TV without turning it on. And the get out of jail free card. But if onlyshe could/would travel instead of clinging ... that would be nice.
ReplyDeletePerceptive of you, Susan!
DeleteThere's a certain, quiet acceptance of death by this dead woman....and humor over the unexpected. I rather like that.
ReplyDeleteTrue, she's not fighting it.
DeleteI think this is my favorite dead woman poem. I totally love it. Especially the xray vision!!!!!
ReplyDeleteSherry, that's a very great compliment, considering the wonderful poems of others I've been reading. Thank you.
DeleteThe ending made me smile and I agree with the others the x-ray vision was an unexpected surprise.
ReplyDeleteI expect I'll be laughing too, when I'm gone... though I'm not in a huge hurry to find out {smiles}
ReplyDeleteActually, me neither (smiles back)
DeleteLove the last stanza!
ReplyDeleteGood! Thank you.
DeleteShe has x-ray vision...hahah... nice... she sounds like being at peace with herself you know...smiles
ReplyDeleteMy thought, with hindsight, is that she has a new freedom to relish the things of life.
Deletean experience for her
ReplyDeleteYes, the new adventure.
DeleteBeing dead will be much like the experience of conscious astral travel (I think), although initially I imagine more emotional intensity and yet greater peace. Witnessing and listening to those you have left, wishing they could hear you and attempting to comfort them.The passing through solid objects and traveling through space passed a million stars.into drifting ether to find yourself with those loved ones who had gone ahead and were waiting for you. I really and truly can hardly wait to reunite with them all. Thanks for the lovely prompt Rosemary, perhaps over the weekend I'll attempt to write a poem about this same subject.
ReplyDeleteWith hindsight I see that what emerged from my subconscious for this poem was really a series of dead selves, i.e. stages I have been through and left behind in this lifetime. (There are clues which I can recognise although few others now would have known me long enough and closely enough to get them.) As a psychic medium I have some impressions of what it is like to be 'on the other side', and I realise that this poem doesn't actually describe that at all.
DeleteFantastic images and sound Rosemary. I am sorry I missed the night to play but glad I did not miss this one.
ReplyDeleteThank you! You could always have a go and post to Open Link Night. (Smile)
DeleteInteresting that you,as a psychic medium, have your dead woman tied to familiar surroundings. Do you find that to be the case in any of your work?
ReplyDeleteWhen contacting the deceased on behalf of a client, what I most often experience is the immensity of the love they can feel when free of earthly limitations, so that I am invariably moved to tears. And I get whatever other messages they wish to convey, and answers to any questions my clients have for them. In my private life I have experienced the dead hanging around places they lived (or died, if a violent death). More often they seem to be drawn to people they cared for rather than places or objects. I believe they are only a thought away, and can hear and respond if called with love. But they seem to have some other existence unknown to us, from which they come to visit. I can only know - or surmise about - what I am shown or experience; there could be much more I never get to glimpse at all because it's irrelevant to the earth plane. Possibly it would be beyond my understanding anyway. If a spirit is 'stuck' because of trauma, I can help release them to go on; but most spirits seem to have the freedom to come and go at will, and able to be in several places at the same time.
Deletedead woman is witty & enjoying her new found freedom...
ReplyDeleteYes, it seems to give her more scope in some ways.
DeleteDead woman seems to have embarked on a new journey, one that is. Ot devoid of interests.
ReplyDeleteYes, so it seems. (Smile)
Deletei enjoyed your free association of ideas about the 'dead woman' very much.. and i too can relate to how you wrote.. this.. as i put myself in a kind of dance trance with music.. to make the ideas flow on their own.. and this always is the way i enjoy creativity.. in the flow.. letting it all go.. and what comes will come.. when it is good and ready.. smiles..:)2!:)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Yes, I have known fiction writers who wrote to background music to get the ideas flowing.
Deletenow I want to go listen to some Grateful Dead :) ~
ReplyDeleteCome over to my place; I've got some of the original tracks, lol.
DeleteCame back to read it again, and love it just as much. It makes me smile.
ReplyDelete