Painting Without Sound



Trying to be…..

Paint yourself into
someone else.

Apply plenty of lie
to your smile to keep
clueless content.

Truth doesn’t sell
when the market
is flooded with
cleavage and curves.


Revelation….

Pain bleeds through
the grainy silence.

Hope unhinged
doesn’t need sound
to speak agony.

Heartbreak is
a universal language
too often spoken
from the dejection
written upon a face.


©Susie Clevenger 2014



          "True Heart Susie" (1919)


At Real Toads Kerry used silent movies as inspiration for our writing. In doing some research I came across the movie, "True Heart Susie" starring Lillian Gish. Of course it caught my attention since I share the name Susie, but I also felt the connection because it was released in the same year my father was born. 


Comments

Kerry O'Connor said…
Each stanza of this poem could stand alone with all the weight of epigram. Excellent observations, Susie.
April 16, 2014 at 2:50 PM
Susan said…
And the dejection comes through the paint as well. it is hard to cover up the lie ...
April 16, 2014 at 3:32 PM
Sumana Roy said…
silence has a language of its own
...and it's universal..beautifully
expressed...
April 16, 2014 at 9:40 PM
Hannah said…
I agree with Kerry totally and your closing stanza feels particularly potent with truth to me.

Excellent response, Susie!
April 16, 2014 at 10:43 PM
Margaret said…
I adore everything about this poem - the deeper insight and the beauty of how you wrote it AND the movie… I am coming back to watch this hopefully this weekend. THANKS!
April 16, 2014 at 10:56 PM
Anonymous said…
I am, once again, struck by how much those old-time movies can actually say, even without words. Wonderful!
April 17, 2014 at 12:33 AM
hedgewitch said…
'..Pain bleeds through
the grainy silence...'

That's exactly what i caught writing about one of these women--to the audience, pure magic--yet everyone is only human after all, not immaculate, painted perfection, and the contrast seems somehow devestating. This one really resonates with me, Susie.
April 17, 2014 at 12:35 AM
Maude Lynn said…
That truth doesn't sell stanza is really outstanding. Excellent work, Susie.
April 17, 2014 at 10:41 AM
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