fahye: ([other] they carry your reflection)
Fahye ([personal profile] fahye) wrote2010-06-29 10:46 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

invention challenge

it's hard not to dream in recipes
when the only text that unblurs in my sleep,
just long enough to be read,
is a list of instructions to be followed.
my daydreams are beginning to suffer likewise
the culinary form as their spine:

they scoliose, and in their bending they require
three cups of coffee drunk only for the taste,
a stirring narrative with a citrus twist,
a pinch to wake myself up
and two handfuls of your hands, full
to bursting with ripe promises and love.

there are recipes catering to every palate:
those who cannot tolerate responsibility, those
whose stomachs churn at the lightest taste
of debt. acid reflux on the lips warns
against wanting more than I can realise
with the ingredients that make me up, and

rows of black words take control of my wants.
I will learn to yearn as directed,
to whisk up a foam from an empty space,
to take a mortar and pestle to my life
and moleculise the loneliness --
crush and blend it with the rest.

I awaken with no flour in my hair, no burns
on my fingers, but at night the kitchen is
alive with mistakes. things curdle. begin again
and use less salt this time. the book
falls open at a page stained with repetition
and molasses, and the recipe says:

in a moderate heat bake the gingerbread shapes
of a family and ice them with harsh city noise;
for their eyes use the memory of sky.
by day I grind down my own bones
and by night I will forever be here
whipping up dream futures spiced with

partings, age, raspberries and time
growing fast and as wild as can be
in a box painted with clouds and set
out in the city air, sixteenth floor, to grow
high above loud lymph traffic lighting its own way
back to the sentinel nodes.

[identity profile] apiphile.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
I love the way you exchange sight with other senses and make this a poem which tastes as well as sounds. :)

[identity profile] lo0o0ony-lauren.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 02:11 pm (UTC)(link)
This is GORGEOUS. My favourite bit: "I will learn to yearn as directed,/to whisk up a foam from an empty space,/to take a mortar and pestle to my life/and moleculise the loneliness --/crush and blend it with the rest."

[identity profile] inknose.livejournal.com 2010-06-29 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
This is nothing short of amazing. The images are so vivid that I feel like this poem has tangible shape. Or that I could physically feel and taste each line... I'm no good at talking about poetry :) In any case, I absolutely love the line "whisk up a foam from an empty space", and the entire fifth section.

[identity profile] littledust.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Lovely.
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Bare - Pilgrim's Hands)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
Fahye, that is *gorgeous*.

Also, I just realised that I managed to go the entire semester without seeing you. This was FOOLISH.
ext_21673: ([wc] blamed it on the other guy)

[identity profile] fahye.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 09:08 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed! Unless you count that one time we ran into each other outside the law building. Which you probably shouldn't, as it didn't involve foodstuffs or Neal Caffrey or any other fun things.
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Default)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 09:17 am (UTC)(link)
... we should remedy this. When you're in Sydney. Which is, uh, not for a while, is it? You're not going to be in Sydney next semester, amirite?
ext_21673: ([mi5] a place for your breath)

[identity profile] fahye.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 09:22 am (UTC)(link)
I'm in Sydney (and basically free) for the latter half of next week?
ext_42328: Language is my playground (Default)

[identity profile] ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com 2010-06-30 09:29 am (UTC)(link)
That would be cool! Give me a shout when you get back to town :)

[identity profile] lilith-lessfair.livejournal.com 2010-07-02 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, marvelous.

I like this:

when the only text that unblurs in my sleep,
just long enough to be read,
is a list of instructions to be followed.
my daydreams are beginning to suffer likewise
the culinary form as their spine:


and this:

I will learn to yearn as directed,
to whisk up a foam from an empty space,


very much.