A crow in a hanging cage
shifts its weight uneasily
and drinks a little water
while looking down below
at a petite cloying girl
sitting on a plush divan;
outwardly
she is innocence personified
dull and boring –
but the crow sees
where others eyes fail
he knows from outside in
she wears long sleek claw tipped
gloves of vermillion
that stretch into
a plush dress of silk
that glimmers
and is complete with a tail
that gently swishes
back and forth
back and forth,
then
there is the matching red cat mask
from which the femme fatale
winks
and let’s the crow know
just what she intends.
Uneven progress
towards political
instability
threatens to unravel
and then implode
as a new crisis provokes
a purge of allies
leaving old enemies
near to the hearts of the people
and the atmosphere
fatally
poisoned.
– matt at shadow of iris
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[First verse inspired by the work of Ray Caesar.]
I like how you led the reader from the quiet evil of the first stanza into the sharpness of the evil in the second stanza. A statement that needed to be made in the second stanza, and would not have read as poetry but for the first. An awesome piece!
Nevine
What a surreal picture you’ve painted here, Matt. Much better, more intriguing, more dangerous than the painting that inspired it…
Thank you for the great comments!