Sunday, July 23, 2006

Keys Of Bone And Stone

What could a key unlock, that's made of bone?
Surely a hummingbird-bone opens an egg by Faberge--
tiny multicolored gems in scintillant array.
Fish-bones, sharp as swords
the locks of some submarine armory
or Davy Jones' weapon chest, full of scale-mail and stingray tails.
A mammoth bone, the key to a titanic hall
inhabited by frost giants and Fimbul-trolls
who keep Frey's sword.
A fossil ammonite--
some chest of stone, trove of the treasures of deep Time.

11 comments:

Lea said...

Beautiful imagery and word...

Jo said...

I love

Fish-bones, sharp as swords
the locks of some submarine armory

Jo

writerwoman said...

tiny multicolored gems in scintillant array.


Love that line. It paints a vivid picture.

writerwoman said...

tiny multicolored gems in scintillant array.


Love that line. It paints a vivid picture.

paris parfait said...

Fantastic imagery painted in your wonderful poem.

Cassiopeia Rises said...

So beautiful said, in rich colorful mind expanding words. The images that flash before me, are swift an stunning. I am dazzle.

love-bd

Tumblewords: said...

I like the idea of opening by other than keys, per se. The use of imagery in this piece is strong and makes a great question.

Sr. Heather said...

Oh - what gorgeous images! Very nice! I like sharp as words, too. Words can be the sharpest things there are... or the most healing and soothing.

Anonymous said...

As others have said, the imagery is very nice.

The poem reminds me of the secrets bones hold about who we are, who we've been - how deciphering those secrets is the key to our own becoming.

Nicely done.

Gill said...

A feast for the imagination...thanks!
xo
Blue

jonas said...

fabulous. really sent my head spinning, thinking about bone-keys opening obscure worlds. don't see much rhyme in contemporary poetry- yours has a very nice ring to it. keep it up.