Sunday, October 30, 2011

Distraction

He staggers and he falls. A fanged imp, drawn by fresh hemoglobin and gunsmoke, splatters through the wall, clamoring that men’s blood is less than sweet these days, that molasses taffy has lost its shine. A goldfish of crumpled paper puppet-swims against the grain, laying low to spy beneath the Coronet for MI5. Soon it’ll sense the currents that swept the sheets stage left. Hear the footsteps of the maid who’ll make up that bed and lie. About stealing her sweetheart’s pennant that had once hung the rented wall. Leaving one nail stuck off-key, driving a dead man to distraction.

For other writing inspired by this image, visit Magpie Tales.

21 comments:

  1. Oh, I do like the vision of the maid and lying. A fine poem. A nice distraction to my usually hum-drum Sundays....!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow!!! i want some of what you're having....brilliant!!! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ha! Very clever! You know the photo reminded me of "Sleep No More" the performance piece/play about MacBeth. Your post fits right into the mood of that. (Check it out if you don't know it. )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderful melody of Gothic sound effects culminating in the series of deadly "d's"! Rich imagery!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can see the paper gold fish swimming too! I really enjoyed this flight of fancy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I like the way you've used all the elements in the illustration. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  7. All the aspects of the picture integrated into one piece of writing. Quite an achievement.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That's a really tight write with great use of vocabulary. I love the little images you create.
    Jamie

    ReplyDelete
  9. very nicely managed in your self-imposed rules

    ReplyDelete
  10. A lovely lot of nonsense.

    Brilliant.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I trust the part where men's blood is not as sweet these days..everything else must be true too! Bravo!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. this has a wonderful gritty feel to it and you dance well from image to image....well penned...

    ReplyDelete
  13. A variety of truth that sings - as it should!

    ReplyDelete
  14. This post would drive a dead man to distraction

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is brilliant-- do repost it or link it to DVerse open link night... very fine, wonderful associative leaps and tensions! xxxj

    ReplyDelete
  16. i love the pic...have seen it at willow's place and maybe join the fun and write something...still pondering...but like much what you done with it..you captured the gritty, dark mood perfectly..

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice!! so many different images...image drawn by blood...paper goldfish..so creative!

    ReplyDelete
  18. "A goldfish of crumpled paper puppet-swims against the grain" ... what a clever, wonderful line! The whole piece leaps with resonance.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I adore anything with hemoglobin, gun smoke, and molasses...

    ReplyDelete
  20. A mesh of potential plot-lines?

    ReplyDelete
  21. A must read again write, Love the goldfish image

    ReplyDelete

AddThis Widget (for sharing)

Crazy Egg (Analytics)