Saturday, October 13, 2012

Nocturne

I have the same dream again:
an old woman sits before me.
I don’t know who she is, but
I am washing her hair,
and it all seems to make sense.

As I massage her scalp gently, lovingly,
in the suds 
big hunks of her hair
come out in my hands,
and then the skin itself.
I’m horrified, standing there
with ribbons of flesh 
hanging from my fingers.
I try to form words to ask her
if she is alright, but of course she isn’t…
I’m holding her bloody scalp in my hands.

Then I look down, and from the shiny, white
bone of her skull
poppies are growing, blooming.

And then it’s not her,
it’s me.


This is for the poeticaphobia prompt at dVerse Poets' Pub.

22 comments:

  1. Wow, that is a vivid nightmare. And to think that the 'old woman' ends up being you at the end -- yikes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary,

    This is superb, for its visual power, to bring your image before the reader...Very goulish in some ways; perhaps an early hint of a Halloween influence...

    Eileen :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mary, this is incredibly intense and vivid! Beautifully composed.

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow...this has INTENSITY...interesting to me that so many of our fears manifest in our dreams....to me this is one of those 'mirror' dreams where the subject matter is about one self....in this instance could it be fear of death? and the poppies rebirth? fear of endings but then new beginnings?? fascinating visceral poem

    ReplyDelete
  5. What an intense and chilling nightmare ~ Whew, well done ~

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's quite the nightmare Mary. Very vivid and scary too. There must be a meaning for it somewhere if you knew how to interpret it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. holy crap....this gave me shivers all the way down mary...dang....i will not be able to sleep tonight...frig, intense and vivid....still shivering..

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a nightmare, a scene from horror movie with such vivid images...one not easy to forget. Very scary and well written...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Blah, the cat would not want that dream
    I'd rather pluck fish from a stream

    ReplyDelete
  10. *clearing my throat* this one got me! and I thought my fear of exams was an issue... the image I got from this piece alone scared me... glad about the poppies though. It must mean something good.

    Nicely written! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Your dreamscape is perfectly presented in that matter-of- fact tone that only makes it more horrifying, Mary--and it has that wonderful logical illogic of dreams where everything seems to follow and make its own sense, however disconnected and bizarre. (I seriously have had dreams of brushing my own hair and having it all fall out--not as colorful as this with the poppies, but equally freaky.)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nightmares - where great fears are sorted out and it all seems so real..how bizarre they can be..you did a great making it seem real :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Excellent! Wonderful visuals and I love the twist at the end. Nicely done :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. very vivid portrayal of fear...some intense nightmare that...and the spare tone just made it more horrific

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hair loss and teeth loss dreams are a dime-a-dozen. But poppies out of the skull -- that is very special. Reminds me of lotus growing out of muck -- beauty reaching up amidst the poor conditions. Fun.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Interesting as Jungian interpretations say an old woman is your guide or helper. The imagery is pointing to some crisis whereby the rational/logical approach or explanation needs to be 'destroyed/abandoned' for a deeper intuitive or natural approach/understanding.

    ReplyDelete
  17. OMG, Mary! What a horrible dream...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Wow this is so intense. Makes me think someone close to you lost their battle with cancer (loss of hair) or similar disease. I think dreams (and nightmares) are our way of coming to grips with things we can't make sense of during our waking hours, a way of coping and sorting out reality. Well penned, Mary.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your poem became so visual to me I felt like I was the one washing the ladies head and then...really haunting.Thank you for sharing. Dropped by via dVerse.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thank you all so much for you comments. I have not commented separately here, but I have visited all your blogs, read and left comments there. I appreciate your feedback so much!

    ReplyDelete
  21. This is good nightmare stuff! Dreams do seem to follow their own set of rules that ultimately make some sort of sense. Having enjoyed my dreamscapes of all varieties, I no longer have nightmares. Well, they could be a nightmare, but as I know it is all subjective and internal, the fear and dread isn't there any more.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks very much! I'm sorry it took me so long to see your comment. I'll check out your blog too.

    ReplyDelete