{"id":1757,"date":"2009-08-07T00:10:26","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T06:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1757"},"modified":"2009-08-07T07:27:10","modified_gmt":"2009-08-07T13:27:10","slug":"poetry-friday-incubus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1757","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Friday: Incubus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Incubus Hey, wanna read something disturbing? Kinda spooky? Good. Check this out. It’s “Incubus” by Craig Arnold<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

The chain uncouples, and his jacket hangs
\non the peg over hers, and he’s inside. <\/p>\n

She stalls in the kitchen, putting the kettle on,
\nbuys herself a minute looking for two
\nmatching cups for the lime-flower tea,
\nnot really lime but linden, heart-shaped leaves
\nand sticky flowers that smell of antifreeze.
\nShe talks a wall around her, twists the string
\ntighter around the tea bag in her spoon.
\nBut every conversation has to break
\nsomewhere, and at the far end of the sofa
\nhe sits, warming his hands around the cup
\nhe hasn’t tasted yet, and listens on
\nwith such an exasperating show of patience
\nit’s almost a relief to hear him ask it:
\nIf you’re not using your body right now
\nmaybe you’d let me borrow it for a while?<\/em><\/p>\n

It isn’t what you’re thinking. No, it’s worse. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click here to read the rest.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

I don’t have much to say about this yet, because I just discovered it myself, and I’m still trying to get my mind around it. I’ll tell you this much, though: I like it. I think it works, either as a literal supernatural tale, or as a metaphor for a specific kind of bad relationship.<\/p>\n

What do you think?<\/p>\n

(p.s.: In case you hadn’t heard, Craig Arnold disappeared<\/strong><\/a> a few months ago while hiking solo in Japan. So, while thinking about this poem, maybe also spare a thought for the sudden loss of a young talent, and condolences for his friends and family.)<\/p>\n

* * * * * * *<\/center><\/p>\n

Since I’m all about telling you what to do today, I suggest you should check out what the other poetry peeps are posting too. Tricia’s on round-up duty at The Miss Rumphius Effect<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, wanna read something disturbing? Kinda spooky? Good. Check this out. It’s “Incubus” by Craig Arnold: The chain uncouples, and his jacket hangs on the peg over hers, and he’s inside. She stalls in the kitchen, putting the kettle on, buys herself a minute looking for two matching cups for the lime-flower tea, not really […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}