[L.E. Leone reports that the Dating Poems series is over; but this new poem is really amazing. Enjoy!]
FLOAT
At the bottom of the anger
At the bottom of the letter
At the bottom of the cough syrup bottle
At the bottom of the stairs
At the bottom of stars
At the bottom of memory itself
At the bottom of an imagined childhood
At the bottom of the dream
At the bottom of a bottomless pit
At the bottom of the mystery
At the bottom of why
At the bottom of the beat
At the bottom of the song
At the bottom of the bed
At the bottom of flowers painted on the bottom of a bed
At the bottom of flowers, real ones, in the ground
At the bottom of hope
At the bottom of ducks
At the bottom of my heart
At the bottom of the feeling in my stomach
At the bottom of that pile of shit
At the bottom of the gum on the bottom of my shoe
At the bottom of the ice cream cone
At the bottom of the world
At the bottom of everything
At the bottom of the bottom of everything
At the bottom of that bag
At the bottom of “it”
At the bottom of another man who doesn’t get it
At the bottom of another man who can’t handle it
At the bottom of another man who doesn’t want it
At the bottom of another man who does
At the bottom of cowardice
At the bottom of lack
At the bottom of failure of imagination
At the bottom of lust
At the bottom of rape
At the bottom of the compost pile
At the bottom of a German author’s unfinished manuscript
At the bottom of the river
At the bottom of my oatmeal bowl
At the bottom of madness
At the bottom of the Gatorade bottle
At the bottom of betrayal
At the bottom of the ocean
At the bottom of night
At the bottom of the bathtub I wring my pillowcase in
At the bottom of morning
At the bottom of coffee
At the bottom of another beautiful lonely day with lots of people in it
At the bottom of the ninth inning
At the bottom of the grave
At the bottom of hatred
At the bottom of breath
At the bottom of misunderstanding
At the bottom of a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes
At the bottom of a pair of brown socks on someone else’s stinking feet
At the bottom of disbelief
At the bottom of fear
At the bottom of the poem
At the bottom of the page the poem is on
I find, incredibly, love, still
and white
L.E. Leone
© 2010
Nice. I got to the bottom of this one :)
ReplyDeleteThe gum and ice cream cone prob'ly not my favourites( especially the gum~~ICK! )
I like th' rhythym...
Hi Subby: Glad you liked L.E.'s poem--no, gum on the shoe is not a good thing!
ReplyDeleteit's all good, and wonderful contrasted with love
ReplyDelete"At the bottom of a pair of brown socks on someone else’s stinking feet"
love it
Very powerful. It should be read aloud. Indeed, it should be shouted aloud.
ReplyDeleteI like at the bottom of "it"!
ReplyDeleteHi Dianne, Alan & Willow
ReplyDeleteDianne: Yes, I like the way L.E. varies the imagery & syntax quite well. Glad you liked it!
Alan: Right on!
Willow: Ditto!
"At the bottom of the poem" is my favourite line, as I seem to do just that when I write one. I hang around there for awhile, mulling over what I've just put down and wondering if I can just drift away now.
ReplyDeleteHi Kat: That's an interesting observation! Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeleteAt the bottom of rape
ReplyDeleteThis was startling to say the least, but then again if she writes in earlier lines: At the bottom of everything/At the bottom of the bottom of everything she's not shying away from what that actually means; "everything", which is such an abstract word on its own, really means everything.
My favorite line: At the bottom of an imagined childhood. And this line seems to have a whole story in it: At the bottom of the bathtub I wring my pillowcase in.
Hi HKatz: I'll admit that I also put on the brakes at the "rape" line when I first read it, but I think you're reading of "everything" is the proper explication. I also loved the bathtub line!
ReplyDeleteOh, I could've kept sinking into that one for hours more. Though that's the sweetest "hitting bottom" ever.
ReplyDeleteHi Jaina Bee: Thanks--so glad you liked LE's poem--it's one of my favorites by her.
ReplyDelete