The center or yoke of the poem below came from an old journal. It was obviously a work in progress in 1976 and one which I abandoned toward the later pages as I abandoned the journal. I seem to never fill them in entirety.
Today I unearthed the poem and found some phrases of merits and it seemed to reflect on my fragile feelings since succumbing to the flu (the vaccine of which is made in egg yokes) so I began playing around with it again. If I remember correctly at the time it was begun I had geese and ducks and was experimenting with making my own tempera paint which uses egg yokes carefully removed from their membranes.
Eggs
With cold calcium shells
Neatly arranged
Separated in nested cartons
cozy.
Tea cozies
And angel eggs
Poached in boiling water
Whites suspended in three dimensions
Eaten delicately on toast
With tea and butter
Duck eggs
So large and smooth
Cracked and separated
White from yoke
rolled from palm to palm
Medium for tempera paint
Pretty eggs
delicately peeled of protective shell
Yoke and white suspended in membrane
Like a water balloon of life
Quivering in open palm
No longer able to turtle
She quivered
hugging herself together
With flimsy translucent memories
Waiting to be pricked by experience
No longer the cozy turtle.
Eggs, wonderful eggs
so perfectly sealed
And filled with promise
Cozy and comfortable
Once
Safe.
(c) J. Binford-Bell 2009
With cold calcium shells
Neatly arranged
Separated in nested cartons
cozy.
Tea cozies
And angel eggs
Poached in boiling water
Whites suspended in three dimensions
Eaten delicately on toast
With tea and butter
Duck eggs
So large and smooth
Cracked and separated
White from yoke
rolled from palm to palm
Medium for tempera paint
Pretty eggs
delicately peeled of protective shell
Yoke and white suspended in membrane
Like a water balloon of life
Quivering in open palm
No longer able to turtle
She quivered
hugging herself together
With flimsy translucent memories
Waiting to be pricked by experience
No longer the cozy turtle.
Eggs, wonderful eggs
so perfectly sealed
And filled with promise
Cozy and comfortable
Once
Safe.
(c) J. Binford-Bell 2009
Do you have a poem to share with us this Wednesday? One you wrote or just enjoyed reading. Leave a comment here with url or on Twitter or on my Y!360 page.
Heidi B has hers posted already.
Catfishred on Y!360 and a link to another poetry tour
Djeseru
My So Called Life
Nicholas V
Bee
Catfishred on Y!360 and a link to another poetry tour
Djeseru
My So Called Life
Nicholas V
Bee
Thanks for that extra bit of information. Have you seen "Girl with a Pearl Earring"? It is about VanMeer and has a bunch of scenes of mixing colors and his own special pigments. Now we just run down to the art store and buy them but I cannot help but think we miss something if we have not tried it at least once.
ReplyDeleteJacqui, it's wonderful poem with all its double-entendre. I'm not an artist and didn't know about the egg yolks. I love the symbolism.
ReplyDeleteI've done something a little different for poetry Wednesday. Here's my offering for this week. http://bekkieslife.blogspot.com/2009/05/poetry-wednesday-stand-by-me.html