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Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentine's Poem by Trevor Cunnington

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Life's Debris


love, a catafalque
decorated with celtic knotwork
bearing a loved one, soon to rest
under epitaph blankets

love, a flying buttress supporting
the ceiling of our aspirations, sistine
cages that entrap soul-vapours that
should disappear up the chimney's
conglomerate, the gates of sinuses
flush with that histamine rush

love, a dorian pillar embellished
by gargoyles, guardian angels
long since deserted, absent, on
a pilgrimmage to pleni-potential.

love, an arched proscenium, a window
between observer and observed
occluded by thick clouds, delicate
light grey billows weighing on
lungs during a scene change

love, the doorway you huddle in
during an earthquake, plaster hail
raining all around, plunging a trail
through floating, churning dust

love, that bitter metal taste
of carbonic acid after drinking
a vanilla coke.
 
love, the unending war
against dust.

love, that idol of idols,
that fire inside,
that phoenix
singing songs
that resound
through the ages,

ever anew.

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Glossary

catafalque - a raised platform on which a dead body is placed
pleni-potential - a play on "plenipotentiary," a person with the authority to act on behalf of another
histamine - a chemical released by cells damaged or inflamed by allergies
conglomerate - a pebble and rock composite held together with cement