Pablo Picasso - The Dream
Because I hold you in my belly where you squirm
Like a baby, your moods
Make me nauseous and your needs
Hook my spine.
I am pregnant with you.
I pour twice as much wine
To satisfy me, though it’s not recommended.
I am walking slower,
My aversions are multiplying.
Like a good host, I try
To only give you nutritious foods,
Drink plenty of water, rest
Often. But I am human,
Sweets and morsels of fat
Find their way to my mouth sometimes.
I want this gestation to last forever,
But false steps bring early labor.
Your red and screaming birth
Could shoot you clear to a free world,
where I will be left alone,
Empty and sore.
Beautiful. I wish I had your talent.
You paint a poetic picture of the responsibility, of the giving and the giving up, and the pain. I relate deeply to your words.
truly a wonder life is
damn…viceral imagery…and one day they will go out on their own and you will feel that same emptiness…
What a great use of metaphor here–ugh–and how true it cuts to where love sometimes goes. Very fine writing.
Thanks Hedgewitch, I was about to file this in the failed metaphor dept.
love the mental picture I get from this…
A very fine poem expressing the conflicting emotions and reactions of a happy-to-be-expecting woman. Hope pervades all the lines, dressed in joy and little human foibles.
Wow, relationship in gestation. Nice imagery and unexpected. I like looking at it this way; makes it clear that they should be nurtured and how easy it is to fail at that.
Something in this poem touched me deep inside…I don’t even know what. All I know is you put a tear in my eye! I absolutely love.
metaphor-rific…craving pickles with my ice cream (~_~)
found this to be a compelling write, enjoyed how you tied and interpreted in the image. ~ Rose
I read this and then marked it with a reminder to read again. I did that for two reasons – first, because I liked the vivid and forceful language; and second, because I wasn’t sure if the meaning was relatively straightforward, or it was a sustained metaphor.
Sometimes I can’t answer that kind of question about my own poetry, so I just cast the stone into the water and wait (for a fish with a bump on its head).
Hi Simon! It was a sustained metaphor, but it seems like some folks took it literally so I may have to go back and make it clearer rather than just saying “like a baby” to nudge into the metaphor. Thank you for reading!!
Hello dear, you are loved, congratulations! I nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award, check it out here:
http://allaboutlemon.com/2012/02/12/i-am-beloved-liebster-blog-award/
Enjoy and have fun
This is forceful language. What a use of sustained metaphor! That’s difficult to pull off, saying one thing that is so convincing that readers believe you are talking about a real event while, at the same time, singing something else entirely under the surface where poems lurk.
Lovely. Powerful word choice.
This is great – reminded me of Sylvia Plath a little.
Wow, thank you very much!
excellent, excellent poem.