The day was struck with fever.
There were no nurses.
Sidewalks were poured by crews
working with concrete, confabulation, and implied threat.
Down each remembered hallway stood a constable.
The day weaved on its feet.
Children brought the sun in a wagon,
and all things answered to a nearby cat with yellow eyes.
A woman with red hair tried to bandage the scent of autumn.
A military band dispersed.
"Sell me your fever," I said to the day, the fading day,
imagining myself with it under my arm in a box,
like a pet, or an extra head, a gift for the indifferent storekeepers.
_______
Oh, this fever packaged and presented in this manner is a product of both deep anguish and intimacy — the "implied threat" made me ponder over this setting, and all things answered in the cat with yellow eyes only makes it more bewitching.
ReplyDeleteI loved this bit: "A woman with red hair tried to bandage the scent of autumn."
I am feeling the seasonal drift and the warmth's last gripping touch in your words.
-HA
Children brought the sun in a wagon,
ReplyDeleteA woman with red hair tried to bandage the scent of autumn.
I really love these lines, for their clarity and impact, and placement.
And the closing is equally interesting and speaks with a particular voice, one of both anguish and desperation, it seems to me.
I read this as a scene, a vignette - and just like it for it's interest as it is. The contrast of inside/outside - of swipes of life that seem to contradict and intersect.
And if there is something more to this? I'm not sure can tease it out. But I like it just as it is.
The surrealism of fever... that cat with yellow eyes makes me think of Bulgakov... we all dance with the devil
ReplyDelete