She stood with hands on hips,
rosaceous hair pulled taut
and twisted into a psyche knot.
Her eyes’ prism revealed
an overglaze of reason as she
watched the numismatist’s
logical fingers trace over some
ancient artist’s vision captured in
the obverse engraving. They lingered
on the junk’s rounded sails carving
paths through southern seas.
“These sails should be square,” he said.
“I’m certain this is fake. I’d be happy to—”
Her lips curled in satisfaction.
His eyes followed the incorruptible
ecliptic of the coin’s path to her purse.
He watched her walk away, dull heels
clicking against stained tile, a music
soon dampened by the snow
and city streets. Listening to her fade,
he wondered how she knew the
master forger’s work was worth
much more than the original.
—
This is for Read Write Poem’s latest prompt (#108). Click here to read what others did with this prompt.
I picked two words salmon and binocular and flipped backwards through the dictionary letting my eyes fall on random words between the two I’d initially chosen. I had decided to use 10 words and have them appear in the poem in order of discovery.
Those words were: rosaceous, psyche knot, prism, overglaze, numismatist, logical, junk, incorruptible, ecliptic, and coin.
In other news, as a holiday gift for family and friends, I made a chapbook out of the micro-poems I post on my other blog. I saved a few to give away here. If you’d like one, use the contact form to tell me where to mail it and it’ll be on its way. First five Next three callers.
22 Comments | Filed under: poems and poetry | Tagged: poems, read write poem
Hi James,
Great and imaginative use of the words. I really like ‘rosaceous’ and ‘numismatist’.
Thanks, Derrick. It really surprised to me find numismatist and then have my eyes land on coin later on.
Fascinating use of the words here. Really enjoyable, lyrical piece.
Thanks, Mark. Glad you enjoyed it.
A finely crafted piece! I enjoyed the unusual words and surely the imagery you’ve produced!
Tumblewords, thanks. I appreciate your comment. Some of these are words that really fired the imagination.
you’ve got me wondering whether I could make my hair into a psyche knot….
Thanks for the link to your other blog, lovely pieces over there,
Thanks for checking out gnarled oak. Nice to hear you liked it.
Psyche knot was my favorite discovery. I’d never heard the term before. I thought about trying to plumb it for its connotations, but in the end just let it be a ‘do.
That knot is intriguing.
I’m enchanted, and a little envious =), that you were able to create such a fluid and logical narrative, all while keeping the heightened language from being diluted or trivialized.
Great!
Thanks, Deb. I’m always trying to find new words, but it can be tricky to make it seem natural. Glad to hear this one worked for you.
Wonderfully visual details.
I like the music of her footsteps into dampening snow.
Thanks, Irene.
I like “twisted into a psyche knot.” Interesting.
Intriguing. It’s almost like watching a scene in a movie instead of reading a poem.
The poem and story in it, interesting and intriguing
I like the story. Don’t you love it when you can make so few words do that much! I envy your telling.
james that rosaceous hair tied in a psyche knot is quite a vivid image, dig it. very effective word economy here and enjoy the touch and go relationship embedded within the piece. -lawrence
really good work here. I especially like poems that tell a story and yours could have kept going and going….so nice!
I’m always trying to fight that going and going thing so as not to say too much. Knowing when to stop is always tricky for me.
niceley crafted and a good read….thanks for sharing this
Well done. Agreed with Lawrence that your first image (rosaceaous hair tied in a psyche knot) was rather vivid indeed. You did well crafting the words into a short narrative. I enjoyed the read.
-Nicole
Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments and thoughts.