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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

FEET BENEATH THE TABLE

FOR POW PROMPT 4



















Write a poem as a response to the painting above ‘Feet Beneath The Table’ by Charles Blackman (Australian Painter.)You could assume a character if you wish. I know I am identifying with at least two . Gosh,Wednesdays come around quickly. So best leave you to get on with it . I can feel a form coming on.
Looking forward to reading you then. A toute a l'heure or toodle-oo amigos!


TOUGH LIFE

Upwardly mobile
Terms and conditions; hard earned…
Until depression
Embraced and ensnared

A curse of many layers
Financial crisis
Hopeless awareness
Hollow sensation; a dip

Austere impression
Meagre allowance
Embarrassed, impoverished
Famished soul forgot

Manhood stripped away
Staring at an empty plate
Reduced to a child
Alone in a crowd

No bread to break together
Undernourished pets
Ghosts of absent guests

Amputated metaphors
One time known as friends
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14 comments:

  1. InayMay 26, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    i like the pic...but i don't understand the poem....

    any idea?

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  2. http://vivinfrance.wordpress.comMay 26, 2010 at 6:44 PM

    Amputated metaphors

    That's brilliant. And I don't understand the poem either, but it's better than the picture!
    V

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  3. MarianneMay 26, 2010 at 7:44 PM

    A great line, "Amputated metaphors, One time known as friends." Life is most certainly an enigma ...

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  4. UnknownMay 26, 2010 at 8:34 PM

    You've taken a different line with this, Stan but I like how the last three stanzas can be related to the painting.

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  5. Paul OakleyMay 26, 2010 at 10:54 PM

    Amputated metaphors
    One time known as friends

    Wow! Very nicely achieved! I was moved by your take on this prompt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. rallentandaMay 26, 2010 at 10:54 PM

    A very interesting and individual take on the painting.You have captured that alienated bleak mood .I like the stark reality checks e.g. friends being amputated metaphors (nowhere to be found once the money runs out) This is very good Stan. Well done!

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  7. Andy SewinaMay 27, 2010 at 2:24 AM

    Bang on Stan! Amputated Metaphors!! leaps off the page and bites! Phew!!

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  8. Stan SkiMay 27, 2010 at 9:05 AM

    Thanks to:
    Inay; The author, once affluent - depression strikes in all its forms, turns him into a vulnerable little girl with no one to call a friend, surrounded only by memories of what used to be.
    ViV; I don't know much about art... but I've had some experience of life.
    Marianne; When we dwell on things, we interpret their meanings more personally.
    Derrick; It's a kind of before and after scenario.
    Paul; My way of identifying with the characters.
    Rallentanda; You got it... I was also attempting to mirror the mood of the artist and his style.
    Andy; Existential self-portrait...?

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  9. flaubertMay 27, 2010 at 11:22 AM

    amputated metaphors!
    I love that Stan!
    Well done!
    Pamela

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  10. Stan SkiMay 27, 2010 at 2:22 PM

    Thanks Pamela; A friend in need is... ignored, usually.

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  11. AnonymousMay 27, 2010 at 8:28 PM

    There is a conspicuous emptiness to the table I hadn't considered (so distracted by all those feet)
    and depression (#2) is another sort of poverty

    Like everyone else--amputated metaphors

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  12. Stan SkiMay 28, 2010 at 6:47 AM

    Thanks Briarcat; It struck me they'd all seen better days.

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  13. J. D. MackenzieMay 28, 2010 at 8:40 AM

    Paul, struggled with the connections at first (prompt to poem) but as always the conversations help. This image shows alienation, dispair, lack, loss of hope. As does your poem. But guy to guy, can we go easy on the stripping manhood away? At least in our poems?

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  14. Stan SkiMay 28, 2010 at 10:07 AM

    Thanks JDM; It's about... someone a friend of mine knows...

    ReplyDelete

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