teardrops blink open pavement
jellyfish sting bare skin
jello-words slide
out of my mouth, black indelible
poison shot from electric
fingertips. porcupines
would show more kindness. thunderstorm
impotent thundering
above and no bingo-ball lightning
eccentric, a cracked
bulb swinging a thin
filament in a darkened
room. air is cold and low
on my face, bike pedals thrum
and headlights bounce like
Atari's Pong, erratic
and fat against
a final wall
cement smooth
and humming tires.
2 comments:
I like the sliding Jello-words; I'm not clear how the sweet, sticky, slippery fun food fits with jellyfish sting/poison/electric fingertips.
I just heard a story last night about someone hitting a porcupine on the road and it puncturing the radiator, so the idea of the rain being less kind to the skin is a strong one!
Bingo-ball lightening is interesting. One use of "thunder" (in storm or -ing) would probably suffice. Love the cracked bulb swinging thin filament (both the image and the assonance).
Ah yes, Pong. That bouncing light is burned into my retinas too. Not sure I understand the last stanza. Is there a pause after wall? Is it a real wall or idiomatic like "I hit a wall"?
I love the cracked bulb image, too. But the line above says "no bingo-ball lightning" and yet the bulb image makes it sound like there is lightning, so I wasn't sure what was happening there.
Liked the humming tires, too. That little stream of water that spins off the tires when you're riding on wet streets.
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