Little Death

”Paris exists to remind you dreams are real” — Paul Cézanne

Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “Paris Beauty” by: rob kistner © 9/12/24

 

Quietly she sits
aglow in Paris moonlight
spilling through
the tattered sky
time to time

to flood sterling
in those moments
this quaint sidewalk cafe

lovely lady
you look so at peace
yet so alive

vibrant

and so very beautiful

the rising moon
paints your face
a fetching pale rose
as the full Luna
works its seductive magic

a singular teary beauty
you’re radiant
under the cherry moon
cocktail in hand

I want so to approach you
tell you how enticing you look
how you stir my desire

but I hesitate

I fear you’d consider
my fervent advance
an indecent proposal

I don’t want the color of night
to turn a lecherous purple
when what I feel
is passion’s purest red

yes — I am excited by you
more and more
on fire

you’ve such a classic look
sensual
yet — vintage sophisticated
one of Ziegfeld’s elegant showgirls

but I’m a poor soul
the postman

a lowly schlep
out here fighting daily
to make a living
on this battlefield earth

most certainly
not in your class
my goddess

but I’m swept away
mesmerized by your beauty

the graceful lines of your face
your lithe feline form


Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “To Her Lips”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/24

your slender fingers
caressing the stem
of your martini glass

like a captivating
catwoman

you are utterly intoxicating

if you ever turn my way
look into my eyes
and smile

well then…
I know who killed me

you

Aphrodite of the corner cafe
Venus of the street-side apéritif

it would be you

…because I’ll likely die

my heart will stop

my hair
turning fifty shades of grey
as my dust blows away

but really
I would not mind
a magical little death

the transcendence of
“la petite mort”
with you m’lady
would be wonderful
quite precious
a precious Paris dream

but alas
too long I’ve lingered
too long I’ve dreamed
this moment has captured me

I am hopelessly lost
to loving you


Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “Ecstasy”
by: rob kistner © 9/12/24

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rob kistner © 2022
edited revision © 2024

2022 Poetry at: dVerse

2024 Poetry at: dVerse

These are the movie titles featured in this poem, in the oder they appear: The Lonely Lady, Under the Cherry Moon, Cocktail, Indecent Proposal, Color of Night, Showgirls, The Postman, Battlefield Earth, Swept Away, Catwoman, I Know Who Killed Me, Fifty Shades of Grey

 


48 thoughts on “Little Death”

  1. You turned those film titles into an epic black and white French film, Rob! I especially love the way you set the scene in the opening stanza, and the way you describe the lonely woman as ‘a captivating catwoman’, ‘Aphrodite of the corner café’ and ‘Venus of the street-side apéritif’.

  2. This is absolutely stellar writing, Rob 😀 I especially like; “I don’t want the color of night to turn a lecherous purple when what I feel is passion’s pure red.” Yes!

    1. Thsnk you very much Sanaa… 🙂 …I am pleased you liked that particular passage. It was fun to explore the color spectrum to discover what I felt the color should be for the word lecherous. I had initially considered black, but black is all colors combined, and I wanted a single color. Purple, though it is alsoo a royal color, it is also the color of a physical bruise. So somehow I felt that it fit.

  3. You never disappoint in your ability to create a setting and characters that spring to life. An enchanting story poem.
    Great use of the movie titles they had a natural flow within the piem.

    1. Thank you True, as I commented to David herein — I write down every word in the order that they are featured in the prompt, then I simply build the poem around them, keeping them in their original order if I am able. I find it forces me into a discipline from which I can create stream of consciousness poetry reasonably effectively. I did it for many years, I stopped doing it for several years, now I’m doing it again. I have rediscovered the joy in it, and the challenge. I am very pleased that you enjoyed this True. 🙂

  4. Ditto Kim’s comment and WOW! Just WOW! This is an amazing poem covering sooo many of the titles and it all makes sense. You’ve set the scene for a black-and-white noir film in my opinion. Love the illustration as well. These words most especially I enjoyed
    “I don’t want the color of night
    to turn a lecherous purple
    when what I feel
    is passion’s pure red”
    but in truth, I truly enjoyed the entire thing. So much so, I read it aloud to my husband! WELL DONE!

    1. Thank you so much David, I appreciate your kind words. 🙂 i’ve resorted to a technique I used in the past when writing a poem to a multi word prompt. In this one I wrote down every title of the movies that were featured in the prompt, in the order that they were featured, then I wove a poem around them, approaching each in the order it was set out in the prompt. That’s how I ended up with the finished poem. I also did this with Shay’s Word Garden’s last prompt, using every word in the order they were listed in the prompt. What this does for me is inspires a type of stream of consciousness (SOC) writing. It seems to work well again for me. I had gotten away from this technique for a while, but I’ve again discovered my love of the technique — when I’m approaching a prompt with multiple words… as Shay’s Word Garden prompts are by default.

  5. You created such a scene with this, Rob. So vivid! You worked the titles in so well.
    (Though him imagining the “little death” as he watches her makes me just go “ewwwwww!”)

  6. You know we are still 16 in our minds. I love your intriguing story. It is so full of passion and desire, that can only end with a little death! Your video is spectacular. The colors just pop! Well done my friend. Never stop dreaming!

  7. I can so understand how intoxicating to just see such a wonderful lady… but somehow I feel we as men should just admire at a distance.

  8. Loving You and Minnie Riperton … how could any ‘alive’ person not remember how she sang that song!!!!!!! Just for one second, I want to look like/be the woman whose image graces the beginning of your sensuous poem. Amazing how you wove those movie titles. Bravo, Bravo.

    1. That song by Minnie has always blown me away, because she delivered that performance from her heart through her soul. To me it is one of the most authentic and intimately personal recordings ever caught on tape in a recording studio and precessed onto vinyl. Aldo, in my mind, the beauty of the image I created of that woman at the cafe table on the Champs Élysées, is the sultry confidence and quiet engaging intelligence that radiates hypnotically from her eyes, as well as the calm grace of her demeanor. She is 100% present, and that is so captivating, because it ‘says’ genuine person here, no pretense. Also she is not “trying” to be sensual — she simply “is”. 🙂

  9. Stunning tribute, so real, raw, and full of adoration for the feminine..the closing lines add such tension…

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