Blood House

In this blood house of my genetics
where ancestry has determined skin and bone
I wonder if this knifed clay bears a deeper resemblance
to spirit than my face reanimating death.

Are the words that come when sleep evades
the poems of another’s dreams released
on a sea of stars to reach the sand of my pen?

Names hang on a family tree where mirrors see
but can’t hear…Somewhere in the puzzle I am a verse.


©Susie Clevenger 2015

Real Toads ~ Get Listed For May ~ Pablo Neruda

Comments

brudberg said…
I have a subscription to a Swedish poetry journal, and the latest theme was "family trees".. this one could have fitted right in.
May 8, 2015 at 2:40 AM
Jim said…
Reminds me (I don't know why) of the song, California Hotel. Crazy, mixed up. Family tree of a house. In poetry.
Somewhere is 'you'.
..
May 8, 2015 at 3:10 AM
Gillena Cox said…
ah yes you'r there imprinted in your ancestral heritage; the "mirror" stanza i luv particularly

much love...
May 8, 2015 at 3:12 AM
Vandana Sharma said…
We all are the result of our genetic changes / mutations accumulating overtime and affected by environment.
May 8, 2015 at 4:35 AM
Outlawyer said…
Hey Susie--this actually felt very Lorca-like to me--that intensity and a kind of surrealism--it's very effective. Thanks. k.
May 8, 2015 at 6:28 AM
Sanaa Rizvi said…
This was so intense & emotive... a longing to be something more..!

Names hang on a family tree where mirrors see
but can’t hear…Somewhere in the puzzle I am a verse.

You are a beautiful garden of verse!

Lots of love
xoxo
May 8, 2015 at 6:58 AM
Opal Onyx said…
"Somewhere in the puzzle I am a verse." I love this line. What a clever ending, embedding "averse" as well.
May 8, 2015 at 8:10 AM
hedgewitch said…
One of the best you've ever written, in my opinion, Susie. Behind us, within us, are all that have gone before, so that I think there is no knowing which is which, or even if it ought to matter. Every line is exquisite here. Safe travels--if you are coming our way, watch out for the rough weather.
May 8, 2015 at 9:30 AM
Fireblossom said…
I agree with Hedge, this is excellent.
May 8, 2015 at 12:26 PM
humbird said…
Wow, what the 'house' you've built here of your thoughtful and sound words...We are all puzzles of one tree...
May 8, 2015 at 12:28 PM
De Jackson said…
I LOVE this, Susie. So good.
May 8, 2015 at 12:28 PM
Sherry Blue Sky said…
Oh that is brilliant - where mirrors see but cant hear. and "I am a verse". I am cogitating much on family dynamics at the moment myself, Susie, so I resonate with this. Especially the mirror seeing but not hearing. I live with one of those.
May 8, 2015 at 1:33 PM
Maude Lynn said…
This is one of your best, Susie. Wow!
May 8, 2015 at 7:09 PM
Rosemary Nissen-Wade said…
Fascinating questions, which are very much present to me too just now, what with Samhain having happened recently in the Souther Hemisphere, and various poetry sites asking us to honour the elders and/or our poetic ancestors/influences.

This is beautifully expressed,
May 8, 2015 at 7:25 PM
grapeling said…
chills. not a wasted word; each line folding back to the others. and that question in the 2nd verse is so powerful. thank you for adding your voice ~
May 9, 2015 at 12:33 AM
Kerry O'Connor said…
Are the words that come when sleep evades
the poems of another’s dreams released..
I am fascinated by the notion that people can communicate with one another through thought or dreams. Certainly there is more to our inter-connectedness than meets the eye.
May 9, 2015 at 6:13 AM
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