flattery is not forever,
it lives a mayfly life
if it could sing
it would be all crescendo
shouting its message
to the world then nothing
a silver phrase heard
by others also gone
not even divine perfume
could recall that memory
a body fallen, rotting,
leading to the sprouting
of new life from the scars
of the old life now fled
but flattery is not a song
it is a crude utterance
an inept attempt at love
that recounts only desperation
* * * * *
This poem was written in response to the Sunday Wordle prompt from Brenda at Beyond the Bozone.
I’ve enjoyed writing poems to Brenda’s wordles; this is my third this month. But this one was especially difficult and challenging, because four of the words she chose were from one of my poems. Thanks, Brenda.
I have some wonderful things to say about this poem, but they would be flattery. Huh—quandary.
I love the wordle prompts, but managed to miss this one. Maybe it’s not too late.
LikeLike
Love how you worked with the wordle, Mr. Walker. Nice results.
Pamela
LikeLike
Great new header! I had to double check to see if it was you. Now I’ll go read the poem.
If this is your third wordle, you’ve hit them all! In this piece, I love the sound of, “of the old life now fled.” As I hope to rot when I die (no embalming to preserve this body please), a rotting body that leads to sprouting speaks to me. Embalming is so bizarre. Ew. The last two couplets give it a bang of an ending. A five star wordler. (flattery) lol
~Brenda
LikeLike
love the last two lines the most….
I think I should check out the wordle thing….
Great post!
LikeLike
Oh, this is ALL good, but “if it could sing / it would be all crescendo” is, all by itself, worth the price of admission. Salute, poetman.
LikeLike
Mike, thank you. Your “quandary” made me laugh. It’s never too late; Brenda just posted it on Sunday, I think.
Pamela, as always, thank you for your kind words.
Brenda, thank you so much. You manage to pick great words for your wordles. Keep ’em coming. I was worried about those last two couplets; they seemed harsh to me, but I guess that’s the point. I’ll humbly accept your “five star” flattery any day.
Paula, thank you. I’m glad that you too liked the ending as well. Yes, give wordles a try. I think what I like about them is that I’m not starting with a traditional prompt, which is typically a starting point. With a wordle, you get to decide what word or concept you’re going to start with.
Ron, thanks. That was the hardest stanza to write, the one that I changed once or twice, but once I had it, then (pretty much) the rest of the poem followed.
LikeLike
I think you explored this really well. I particularly liked the image in the first two stanzas and then the end was nicely realist.
LikeLike
Wonderful metaphors. I love it.
LikeLike
earlybird, thank you. Those first two stanzas got me going; they came very quickly. I’m glad you like the ending.
Tilly, thanks. I love it when people say, “I love it.”
LikeLike