Friday, November 7, 2008

Tree of Hands

No idea where this poem came from, or what it means. It popped into my head nearly fully formed. But thanks, Mona, for the win and lose poetry theme for the week.

my daughter lost a jagged tooth
last night
and instead of under the pillow
it went into the garden
planted as a seed.
it grew into a tree of hands
by morning
fingers grasping at our clothes
as we brushed past
nails bitten and ragged
pearls of blood
beading at the tips.

9 comments:

Eric Shonkwiler said...

Creepy. Reminds me of Antosca's new book, actually.

Anonymous said...

*smile* Made me think of the story of Jason, sowing the teeth of the slain dragon. Naturally, the soldiers were Harryhousen stop-animation.

Mutha said...

Wow -- wonderful. And thanks for the jason and the argonauts reference Irrelephant -- right on the money.

Unknown said...

LOL@ Ir.

Oohhh....so pretty and then so creepy. I love this. I need to draw this. This is wonderful.


I also need to get back to you on bacteria that live in the vitreous of eyes, don't I? I have some ideas for you.

Noel said...

Awesome last line. You have a way with endings that's enviable. Love the surrealism. Very Gary Soto from his second book, I think it was A Path to Sunlight. I'll send a message when I find the actual title.

Clowncar said...

I was going for creepy, Eric, but I'm not sure it turned out that way. Personally I think a tree of hands sounds pretty creepy, but the kid's tooth mention turned it sweet. Much to my chagrin.

Irr, you magnificent bastard! Maybe my favorite Saturday monring movie memory ever! Neck in neck with Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.

Thanks for the kind words, Mutha. And for stopping by. And for putting a picture of Mr. Met on your blog.

Yeah, it does start out pretty, Nancy, though I wasn't going for that. I added "jagged" to the first line to try to creep it up a little. And hey, no hurry about the eyeball thing. Months away. Oh, and thank you, thank you, thank you for the heme idea. It's becoming central. Intelligent blood....

You are always so generous with your comments, Noel. And again, sorry about Prop 8.

Mother of Invention said...

Can't help my primary teacherness...but I wanted the tree to grow baby teeth and hence, an endless source of revenue from the tooth fairy! A kid's dream come true! That'd be a great picture book idea actually! Wish I had an illustrator or could draw! (Nancy? Do you do this kind of stuff?!)

Lynnea said...

yeah well the blood and the grabbing makes it rather creepy in spite of the sweetness.

love the imagery

Mona Buonanotte said...

Creepy and lovely. Would make a good movie short.