Dear Body...
Where have all our L-words gone?
lithe and lissome, lovely, lean,
light and lively, leap, lunge, lawn,
lift and flit, float, clear and clean,
limbo, lambada, reel, Lindy,
lingering fireflies' flickering light
in this aerie, moonlit, windy,
dance away the summer night...
I sent all those lovely L-words
off to the Antipodes
to float like a loop of spell-words
round a younger lady, tease
and beguile her into dancing
while someone is left to care
how curves still delight the glancing
eye allured to gleaming hair.
For us, poisoned body, L-words
that are left are languid, laze,
bleary-eyed and sluggish; knell-words
bleating of declining days.
Outdoor air just makes you sicker;
we loaf indoors, turn to flab,
face grows craggier, black hair slicker,
limbs grow slimmer, all but ab.
Spider shape emerging, dreaded,
inflammation of the tongue
further ulceration's wedded--
feels bad as when we were young.
To make poison sprays illegal
is our last remaining goal;
then we'll rise, soar like an eagle,
middle-aged again.--Love, Soul.
(Prompted by Poets & Storytellers United: "a letter to your body")
The playful wording makes for a thought-provoking way to express the exasperation of the aging process.
ReplyDeleteSo I've failed. This poem is not about the aging process. It's about chemical poisoning. Because I'm a celiac, feeling bad from chemical poisoning tends to remind me of being YOUNG--when I ate food that made me sick. I do not miss being or feeling young. I look forward to recovering the healthier, steadier feeling of being the age I am without the poison. That's what I tried to say, and I have to wonder, when people ignore the truth and blabber about "aging," whether I've really failed all that badly or those who cling to their poison sprays are deliberately trying to engage in "gaslighting."
DeletePK
Oh, yes, I mourn those L-words too! What a briiliatly clever start to a great poem!
ReplyDeleteThey still have a few years to come back, if we can tune out the commercial media's "exploit 'climate' theories all the time" and teach people, or force them if need be, to STOP SPRAYING THE POISONS that are making even children sluggish, flabby, and sick. It's a separate thing from aging. It really is. If you pay attention you may be able to feel your body recovering in between spray poisoning episodes, as I do. If we can focus and demand a TOTAL BAN, I'd be surprised if there's anyone who doesn't feel "ten years younger"--except, of course, those who aren't ten years old yet.
DeletePK
A clever write - your anguish about the polluting sprays affecting our health is so vivid... L-words and Knell-words..wonderfully written...
DeleteThank you, Rajani.
DeletePK
ReplyDeleteA brilliant letter ..... there are days I wonder how we continue living, surviving.
Such wonderful use of words, and poetic devices! But I enjoyed the brilliant word-play so much that I was in danger of missing the seriousness of the message – which is very serious indeed! And yes, I too thought at first it was a serio-comic look at ageing rather than a protest against the evils of toxic sprays.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, because I mentioned the moment that gave me the idea--sending L-words to another writer who'd written about trying to goad herself to exercise off a few pounds before they started to multiply. And having outlived the people who cared most how one looked IS a normal part of the process. I see where I went wrong, now.
DeleteI don't even know that writer. Maybe I was just enjoying the thought that someone still cares how she looks. I picture her young and blonde; I don't know that she is.
Oh well. Life is a learning experience.
PK
Excellent letter, Priscilla. I miss those L words all the time.
ReplyDelete