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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

On the Street

I have missed my weekly visits to the pub at dVerse - I always enjoy the company there and the excellent verse. This is my drink of choice for this evening - but don't stop here:  there are many excellent brews waiting in the cool, comfortable interior of the bar.  Thanks, Hedgewitch, for hosting this evening!

On the Street

Her very being offends
Cheap perfume mingles with the
poison snaking from sneering lips
hatred glittering from coal-dark eyes
there just isn’t enough material
in that skirt –
there just isn’t enough respect
in her life
Don’t stop, in your smugly manicured self-absorption
don’t stop to ask why
don’t try to hear past the heavy-lidded obscenities
to listen to the soul of what she’s saying
don’t try to see past the heavily painted surface
to see the creature caged within

You might see someone you know -
You might see yourself.

13 comments:

Semaphore said...

Wow. I am sure that some readers, reading this, will stop with recognition. In similar circumstances, would we all end up creatures trapped within a heavily-painted cage? As the folk song goes: "There, but for fortune, go you or I."

Zoe said...

Semaphore - I'm glad you got it. I think so many of us are trapped beneath differing surfaces. But it is always so much easier to focus on critising surfaces that we don't like... I'm glad you stopped by!

Unknown said...

All to true, I have a similar write on my page, she is beautiful, so with that I enjoyed your view of the same

Anonymous said...

Pointing fingers and criticizing others so that you don't have to look at what's under your own surfaces. Nice.

I like this: "hatred glittering from coal-dark eyes"

rosemarymint.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

Ha! It's extremely hard to identify with those who are different or who present themselves differently. Actually being face to face with so much difference is one of the great things about city life. You see people so close up that it becomes harder to deny their common humanity. Well-described. K.

Mystic_Mom said...

Zoe - this is a departure from your usual style, and it totally rocks! You've done something really amazing here my dear! I LOVE it! Gritty, real and there is depth too!

Anonymous said...

This is a scary [for want of a better word] read, maybe because its just too close to home for some of us, me included.

Brian Miller said...

i feel you on this...we often judge others just by what we see...and we may be the key to helping them out of that cage if we are willing to get to know them beyond whatever offends us...

Claudia said...

sometimes it's so easy to stop by what our eyes see...but we really should learn to see with the heart and look beyond the obvious..trying to get to the person who's hiding behind...really like this zoe..

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, how chilling and convicting. GREAT poetry, Zoe
http://www.predatory-lies.com
http://www.momswhotri.com

Unknown said...

How many people do we all know who hide behind the lipstick, make-up, attitude, and empty words? And how many times have we fallen victim to this crime?

Great poem, my friend. Very thought-provoking!

Jenne' R. Andrews said...

Very proud of you for writing this, outside your comfort zone, surely, Zoe-- it has a powerful message. Your choice of details is very evocative! And look at you, comments from Sam Peralta aka Semaphore and Manicdaily-- both of whom are high profile writers! Sam has done so much for poetry online and has 3,000 followers or so on FB and Twitter! And K. is published and a terrific poet-- way to go! xxxj

Kelly said...

Powerful. "the creature caged within" says so much.