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But my hair is OK – With Real Toads

freyathewriter 18 Comments

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Whose idea was it

– please enlighten me –

back in the eighties

to instal changing rooms in clothes shops

with no privacy?

Mirrors were no friend of mine at home

let alone when in the company of svelte girls.

Harsh-lit under lighting

guaranteed to magnify my cellulite

and glint on the mouthful of metal

glued to my teeth by a dentist with no pity for

teenage sensitivity.

I was encircled by girls –

with perfect hair

with perfect bodies

with perfect teeth

with perfect make up.

Whose idea was it, I ask you?

It was the school changing rooms all over again

and the dash through the communal showers

as fast as I could without slipping over on those

god-awful brown and yellow tiles.

 

I still hate shopping for clothes –

thighs too robust to fit in jeans

knees too chunky for on-the-knee skirts

biceps too muscly for long sleeved shirts.

 

I like my hair though.

It’s too wild and woolly for fashion these days.

But about that one thing, I don’t care.

 

Over at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, Magaly is hosting and asks us to write about one of three bees – the Queen Bee, the bee that works the hardest or the bee that doesn’t fit in. Of course I chose the latter. I don’t feel that I’ve ever fitted in anywhere really (although the writing and art community seems to be suiting me rather well these days!). That not fitting in thing was certainly a theme of my growing up…

Please head on over to The Garden, have a good read and if you feel inspired, join in!

Fidelity – dVerse

freyathewriter 31 Comments

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Artist: Claudia Schoenfeld

He holds his guitar as a lover,
Stroking the maple, the cherrywood,
And most of all, the singing strings.

His sleep is filled with chords,
His duvet undulates beneath his fingers,
His mattress sighs at his sweet nothings whisper

Yes, all of his guitars are his one true love.

 

Courtesy of dVerse, where we continue to celebrate 5 whole years of poetic gloriousness, I have learned today about the form that is the sevenling. I have tried my hand at it – using music as the inspiration as requested – I hope it’s sufficient enough to be considered one!

We also have a fabulous interview with Claudia, who is not only a poet, but an artist as well. I have just found out that she is an urban sketcher too – I try my hand at it, mostly whilst waiting for trains, or on trains, as part of my way of relaxing on the daily commute. The picture above is one of her vibrant works! Thank you, Claudia, for allowing us to use one of your paintings today.

Sinistra Dextra – dVerse Poetics

freyathewriter 37 Comments

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I ache to press my fingers into her flesh,

insert them under her skin and grab

fistfuls of the yellow fat cells pulsating beneath.

My nerve-endings tingle with anticipation –

I imagine blood, sinews and cartilage slithering over my hands.

Some call her voluptuous

She has been labelled curvaceous in her time –

her complexion has been admired,

compliments have been made about her chestnut hair

and how it gleams like conkers in the autumn sun.

Most people skirt around that single-syllabled utterance – fat.

It is as if the very word itself is a crime,

as if it should be expunged from the dictionary.

I do not criticise,

do not imagine barbs where none exist.

No, I rejoice in her size,

after all, I am an artist,

an admirer of the human form in all its variations.

My only sorrow is, that in common with them all,

she cannot be moulded.

She is not clay.

I am saddened that she too, will not outlive my attentions.

Perhaps, in the future, there will be such a survivor.

All I want is for each of them to be a little bit better than they already are.

Is that too much too ask?

 

Tonight on dVerse Poetics, Lillian is inviting us to write with a sculpture, or sculptor in mind. Have a conversation with your sculpture, give us your back story, turn and turn again, tell the story from whatever angle you choose, be the sculpture coming to life or the model being used as inspiration. What a wonderful idea, Lillian!

Hmm… my sculptor is a little (a lot!) sinister. I don’t know where he came from, all I know is, I wouldn’t want to be one of his models!

I hope you enjoy (if you can bear it!). I’m sure other entries will be much more light-hearted than mine, so please, do head on over to the dVerse pub, ask the friendly barkeep to pour you a cold one, and get reading (and why not take part?)!