You may have seen me, silhouetted against the sky, this coldest January night — howling with the frozen moon. Moon and I conspire, the whole world close enough to touch. We eat a midnight banquet, seasoned with colors of my guilt.
Show mercy. Peel back the layers to my authentic soul. I hope I’m not ugly in your sight. That thought becomes too heavy to hold, to tough to chew or swallow. My thoughts, bone-white lies of morality plays, open for all to see.
The grey of my indifference , the black of my sins, hope they are not frightening. My purple of betrayal, my red of anger, my green of vengeance — hope they do not make you weep. They’re a carapace to which I’m stitched. Everything I do is stitched with its color, and will no more fade, than I can wash it away.
rob kistner © 2023
More poetry at: dVerse
~ Utterly breathtaking performance of an astoundingly beautiful song by Peter Gabriel. ~
Powerful, Rob! <3
BTW, I hope your eye surgery was successful!
Much love,
David
Thank you David, very much. The first procedure went well. It is a series of 8 injections into my eyes, over a 6 week period, in an attempt to halt the further advance of diabetic related retinal hemorrhaging. The ultimate goal is to avoid the more invasive surgery to repair retinopathic macular edema — and ultimately, to improve my flagging eyesight.
This is a deep contemplative response.
Much????love
Thank you Gillna, very much. Much love to you my friend. 🙂
A powerful piece indeed, Rob! From the opening image of you, ‘silhouetted against the sky … howling with the frozen moon to the ‘bone-white lies of morality plays’ and ‘purple of betrayal … red of anger … green of vengeance’, stitched into that carapace. So sorry to hear that you are undergoing treatment for diabetic related retinal hemorrhaging. Having been through cataract operations and still wondering how bad my macular degeneration will become, I understand how important eyesight is, particularly for writers and artists.
Thank you Kim, so glad the piece resonated for you my friend. I had cataract surgery 11 years. It was like a bloody miracle, for the surgery I couldn’t read street signs when I was driving, so I chose the cataract surgery they gave you a good long distance site but met you needed to read with glasses, which didn’t bother me. I don’t regret making that decision but it’s now been long enough and I’ve had other degradation to my eyes from the diabetes, so I’ve lost a good portion of that long view ability, but I still see street signs and drive without glasses, so I’m happy. I certainly hope macular degeneration never really becomes an issue for you my friend, that’s no fun.
So many colours in our make-up. They’re what we are, after all. Hope you’re keeping your spirits up, Rob. It’s the worst time of the year.
Thank you Jane, I keep doing wha’deva I gotta do next – I do appreciate the concern and kind words my friend. The arthritis took my art, I will not let diabetes take my writing. Siri really helps, but she makes a lotta typos — but I only need to hunt’n’peck corrections, so its doable… long as I csn see.
All the colors–a cry of the heart!
I’m sorry about your eyes, but I hope the injections are successful. Wishing you all the best. ????
Thank you so much Merril… 🙂
I like the plea to peel back the layers to the authentic soul! Heartfelt piece! Best wish on your eye injections!
Thank you Trivia… 🙂
Nice, I like how you used the phrase in such an abstract sort of way.
Thank you Christine… 🙂
Rob, the plea to be seen whole is felt here. The yearning, the regret, how you used colors to reflect the spectrum of you. The unseverable stitched carapace is devastatingly poignant and resonates deeply. This is one of your best yet.
The Peter Gabriel song is a perfect accompaniment. I think this is part of a livecast concert I saw at the theater a few years ago. The theater was packed and the audience (including myself) treated it as if it were happening right there. It was wonderful to be with a bunch of Gabriel fans and we applauded and cheered as you would at a real live performance.
Thank you Sanaa. I have that concert on HD-CD — and my wife and I love love love it… watch it frequenyly. Would have loved to have been there — incredible!
This is wonderful imagery that made me think of a werewolf with the moon and rage… well done
Wonderful perspective Björn. Perhaps that is what rolled through my subconscious mind as I envisioned and created this piece? 🙂