Friday, January 15, 2016

the slipping of silk




the slipping of silk

cattle cars rumble on tracks of the past
washing up today’s toddlers in the tide
as too many stand still in silence waiting
for who-knows-what-when-how-or why -
to move them to speak
to move them to speak
as silence slips as silk ...
through a new generation
of frantic fingers grasping
for purchase - gasping for
air









23 comments:

  1. Ouch. The title led me in a different direction. And now, I know the sound of despair. AN amazing poem. May I post it at Facebook? I will put it in my file of poems I don't wan tot live without.

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  2. ' as silence slips to silk'--- what a poignant image

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  3. This is such a riveting piece :D especially love:

    "as silence slips as silk ...
    through a new generation


    Beautifully penned!Thank you so much for participating :D

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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  4. The use of repetition was fabulous in this. It felt like the gasps of a drowning man.

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  5. Ouch the toddlers in waves made my heart stop... stunning peotry

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  6. The alliteration drones out the despair

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  7. Love the alliteration and the internal rhyme.

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  8. image of Aylan Kurdi comes to mind...

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  9. Trying to catch silk - a quiet fabric hard to take hold of..much like the fabric and cycle of life..and yet it can flow beautifully - like these wonderful words..

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  10. silence slips as silk... what a fabulous image.

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  11. The mention of 'cattle cars' is chilling, Pearl. And....yes....today there is way too much silence; and I find myself wondering where reason resides & whether history has been forgotten.

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  12. I specially so loved this....

    for who-knows-what-when-how-or why -
    to move them to speak

    It reverberates in the mind.

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  13. this is a remarkably short poem that speaks so much, shows so much grief, yet speaks of hope. this poem reminds me of the plight of the Syrian refugees.

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  14. Oh wow, this is so powerful, Pearl....especially the trains full of people on the tracks of the past. Wow.

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  15. I agree...ouch! What a sad truth you have written here Pearl.

    'as silence slips as silk ...
    through a new generation
    of frantic fingers grasping
    for purchase - gasping for
    air'

    Really amazing lines I hope will be heard.

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  16. The title spoke of the softness of silence as you cannot hear silk fall. The image of cattle cars filled with lost dreams..ugh
    pulls at my heart.

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  17. I think of Syrian refugees but more, I also think of Jews pushed into cattle cars and the silence of villagers as they watched them being marched through the town to a prison camp or when they heard the guns and screams of a mass execution. Stunning write.

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  18. My immediate reaction was to compare the loss of childhood so many years ago for those affected by war to that of the present generation made mute and unresponsive by electronic gadgetry with an equivalent loss of their childhood too...but with great exercise for their thumbs.

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  19. Oh! The toddlers in wave...! heart-wrenching... :-(

    Such a powerful poem...

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  20. Brava! Such powerful images and words in so few lines. So much power lives in our voices if only they can be heard and spoken.

    Brilliant poem!

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  21. Brava! Such powerful images and words in so few lines. So much power lives in our voices if only they can be heard and spoken.

    Brilliant poem!

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