Monday, September 10, 2012

Gabriel's Riff



painting of chet baker by debra hurd


Gabriel’s Riff

Another awkward awakening 
from a deep sleep,
jerked into a jagged miasma, grappling
with the conflicted joy of visiting
the garrulous ghosts of family past,

all much younger than you, yet impervious 
to the ravaged pockets of time, a sharp
carbolic taste of tar on your swollen tongue,
your heart doing the shuffle-step stumble
with each ragged inhalation, several
hallowed faces still lingering large
without haloes or horns, just loving eyes smiling,

their sins shouldered long beyond yesterday,
their warm arms still wrapped around you
in a bucolic bruising embrace, 
their unabashed affection actively seeping
into that nether-space between
dreams and waking,
death and honor,
recall and the veil.

Sitting up, the sleep-scape images were still
vibrantly extant until that old companion 
of aphasiac consciousness began to erase
the synaptic links to your REM journey,
and the urgent need to urinate
usurped the need to remember. 


Glenn Buttkus

September 2012

Posted over on flipside records

Would you like to hear the author read this poem to you?

6 comments:

flipside records said...

That painting is gorgeous! And I love these parts of your poem:

"jerked into a jagged miasma"

"a sharp carbolic taste of tar on your swollen tongue"

"your heart doing the shuffle-step stumble with each ragged inhalation"

"still lingering large without haloes or horns"

"sins shouldered long beyond yesterday"

"and the urgent need to urinate
usurped the need to remember" ... Love your ending. :)

Thanks for writing, Glenn.

De Jackson said...

Glenn, this is just a gorgeous, incredible tumble of words. You have used them flawlessly. This is my absolute favorite:
"impervious
to the ravaged pockets of time"

Oh, time as "ravaged pockets." Goodness. That's fantastic.

de
whimsygizmo.wordpress.com

Tashtoo said...

the urgent need to urinate...woke me up! Loved this frolic...fantastic voice for those AMAZING works of art you've been sharing...always awesome, but really, REALLY enjoyed this one.

Brian Miller said...

lol luckily i am not to the point that urination wakes me up yet...nice use of language in this sir, nice flow and great pic to accompany it

four.

gautami tripathy said...

You made my day! And that picture is awesome!

swirl it round and round

Victoria said...

Glenn, this is one of your best ever...and there've been so many good ones. The painting makes me want to drag out my paints and the poem captures that awakening moment so clearly. Loved it!