Posted in 28 Days of Unreason, Poetry

Day Eleven – “He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not”

Posted on by jillys2016

[Open Link night at dVerse]   The struggle over today’s quote from Songs of Unreason took me to my favorite little coffee shop with the cool writing vibe.  The words tumbled just as the coffee cup clacked onto the table. This is Day 11 of 28 Days of Unreason.  (see below for details)  Here then, is today’s line from Jim Harrison and my zany poem in response:

 “I’m unsure if all of me returned” ~ Jim Harrison

“HE LOVES ME; HE LOVES ME NOT”

The bold orange blossoms sporting
mini-skirts and pom-poms, chests thrust
forward in warning
cross the street
in the warming
afternoon haze
heatwaves monroing
their skirts
a gladiola giggle issuing
from their freshly bursting
petals

while
hootie did his best
blowfish face
fantasizing forward
until next morning
bitch-slapped his crumply
weedy face leaving
him with an ugly case
of vertigo
and an odd sense that pieces
of him were missing

Photos by Jilly

 

© Jilly’s Poetry & Photos  All Rights Reserved

A shout-out to the amazing poets who have joined in with the The 28 Days of Unreason:

Lynn Burton at Colorful Penhttps://lburtonwrites.wordpress.com/2017/07/23/7883/

Frank Hubeny at Poetry Short Prose and Walking  https://frankhubeny.blog/2017/07/21/coconut-oil-bad-guys-and-the-rising-sun/

Charley at Life in Portofinohttps://lifeinportofino.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/like-poems-flapping/

Qbit at The Quantum Versehttps://qbit.blog/2017/07/24/not-mincing-words/

Jenna at Revived Writerhttps://revivedwriter.wordpress.com/2017/07/20/break-down-the-barriers/

Care to join in?  I have culled 28 lines from the poetry of Jim Harrison’s collection called Songs of Unreason, using them as daily writing prompts.  Each day I post his line and my own poetic response to it.  It is very informal; if you find something inspirational in the line and write a poem, drop me a note in comments.  I would love to read your words!  I am on Day 11, so we are less than half way through.  Poem onward, my friends!  Jilly

Author:

A wild soul writing poetry.

49 thoughts on “Day Eleven – “He Loves Me; He Loves Me Not””

  1. Respect for the semicolons and the “is this about flowers of humans?” Overlay. Also that you can still write in pen on paper. I thought I was the last of the hardcore. The poem moves dances, blooms.

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    1. Clever response – that the poem blooms. Nice! In answer to that question, is it about flowers or humans – Yes. Regarding writing with pen and paper, that has always been my preference but it doesn’t happen as much as I would like. 🙂 Thanks for reading.

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  3. Monroing… skirts. Much of this poem caused flutters… skirts and otherwise. You were on a track with this one, and it tracks nicely from start to finish. Great writing, Jilly!

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    1. He wrote the novel Legends of the Fall that became a movie. I am not really taken with his short stories, but his poetry knocks me for a loop. I pulled 28 lines from his last collection called Songs of Unreason.

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    1. Honored and humbled by your response, Charlie. Jim Harrison wrote the novel Legends of the Fall which became a movie. He wrote a great deal of other things, as well. My brain was blown clean out of my ears by his last collection of poetry called Songs of Unreason. After reading it I pulled 28 lines from it as writing prompts. These make up the 28 Days of Unreason – the most productive writing of my life. I am on day 11. Feel free to drop by and see the Harrison lines and if anything inspires you, drop me a comment! As you can see from the post, there are a handful of poets who are jumping on board as time allows. Charley (Portofino) has been with me on it every day. It’s good stuff, my friend!

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      1. I will do and check out Jim Harrison.

        The way your describing his work. I’m very curious now. 🙂

        Charley (Portofino) is an amazing poet. I follow the guy’s page. By the way, I’m now following your page as well. I shall be reading, commenting on your work. I look forward to learning more from your writing. 🙂

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    1. Thanks! It’s funny, but that cup started the whole thing – almost a stream of consciousness write. Crumply weedy face is a favorite line of mine as well. (Just love a cool coffee shop that feeds the poetic soul!)

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  13. Delightful in so many ways, Jilly. I love the “monroe-ing” skirt and don’t think that you should capitalize it…makes readers do a little work to see if they can pick up on the reference.

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  14. Love that title and how it leads into the flowers, but then it’s so much more than that. The ‘monroing skirts’ took me a second, but then I was all, “Ahh, damn, she’s good!”
    ‘Hootie did his best blowfish face’ made me giggle. Excellent, as always.

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  17. Finally, I get to read Jilly’s and it does not disappoint! I LOVE the very first mixed image of the bold orange blossom/cheerleader-type and the use of the word “sporting” here. Both the color “warning” “warming,” and the sporty skirted one “monroeing” (amazing!), carrying through to the end of the stanza.
    The second took me a minute to connect to the first but my guess is that it is a man’s reaction to seeing the subject of the first stanza and the ensuing fantasy, reality check, and sense of missing out. Maybe I’m really off-base here. But either way, some fantastic imagery and creativity. I feel as though I can see it, like a painting.

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    1. YES!!! You totally nailed the whole story! This was pretty much stream of consciousness writing while sitting in a coffee shop. The coffee cup with bright blossoms landed on the table, a girl in a skirt walked by, and a Hootie song came on in the course of about 10-15 minutes. I just kept letting it roll and the fact that you see it so perfectly makes my day! You not only write exceedingly well, you read/analyze at that same level.

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  18. Goodness, what a fantastic and playful visual image:
    heatwaves monroing
    their skirts
    a gladiola giggle issuing
    from their freshly bursting
    petals
    And I really like your self-imposed challenge. Makes me want to attempt one of my own.

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  19. I’m greatly inspired by this poem’s wonderfully animated imagery, Jilly. “Monroing” should earn a spot in the dictionary — nice one! Now I have a new, handy word to describe men wearing changshans and kilts, especially the latter, who often have the rather pressing and gusty reason for monroing.

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    1. Ah, Hootie and the Blowfish was a US band popular in the mid ’80s. This poem was almost stream of consciousness – I watch a girl cross the street in a skirt while a song of theirs was playing and it all fell together.
      The morning after was meant to be cruel as the guy was fantasizing about the girl, which is just a subtle version of assult.

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    1. You make my day! This was my personal favorite from last year and I can still taste the moment when I wrote it sitting in a little sidewalk cafe. Thanks for giving it new life 🙂

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