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The elegance and painful reverie of “smooth”

A new poem for my character John Becker for The Half Paper Moon. My 1,000 piece on Vocal!

By Melissa IngoldsbyPublished 8 months ago 1 min read
Top Story - November 2023

i soak up the leather

Of my mother’s heels

It feels like the very edge of the bed, where the darkness follows me in my deep brain waves, and I sense the monster inside

Soaking my sheets like the muddy Mississipi River of “arm full of needles” ghosts

Once the sun cries and leaks its tendrils

I start to comprehend the elegance

And painful reverie of

“Smooth”

I soak up the process of this study

Inside my hollow guts

So twisted

As I grapple the mother title I had to claim for myself,

As I run around the house with the click of the heels

My mother laying like an oil painting soaked up with a slinky piece of leather

Crowded over the precise nature of smooth

Colliding and lying to me

I dream of making her silver, silky, gold-medal proud

I will not drown

In this way,

No.

———

Author note: The Half Paper Moon is NOW available on Golden Storyline Books! The Kindle is available now on Amazon! The paperback will be available soon.

artperformance poetry

About the Creator

Melissa Ingoldsby

I am a published author on Patheos,

I am Bexley by Resurgence Novels

The Half Paper Moon on Golden Storyline Books for Kindle.

My novella The Job and Atonement will be published this year by JMS Books

Carnivorous published by Eukalypto

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Comments (22)

  • KuroHoshi8 months ago

    Amazing poem! I love the ending of "I will not drown in this way, no" and congrats on your top story and 1,000 piece!

  • The Dani Writer8 months ago

    What a surprise of sensations and textures! Congrats on the top story!

  • Kulshum Khatoon8 months ago

    A beautifully crafted piece that captures the intricacies of familial bonds and personal growth. Thank you for sharing with us this masterpiece!

  • Paul Stewart8 months ago

    Love this! Congrats on Top Story but also congrats on 1,000 pieces! What an exceptional piece of poetry to celebrate it with!

  • Caroline Jane8 months ago

    Marvellous poetic foreshadowing there. Twisted melancholy. Wonderful... oh, and I love Postmodern Jukebox too. Their version of creep is superb. Congratulations. 😁

  • Lovely words Sis, and gonna include this as an addition to my Milestones piece

  • JBaz8 months ago

    The music goes so well with this. I played and read it. So many good lines, that are deep

  • Lisa santos8 months ago

    Bravoooo!! 🙌

  • Babs Iverson8 months ago

    Congratulations on Top Story too!!!❤️💕

  • Babs Iverson8 months ago

    Melissa, marvelous smooth inspirational poem!!! Loved it!!!💕❤️❤️

  • I'm back to say congratulations on your Top Story!!!!

  • Gerald Holmes8 months ago

    "It feels like the very edge of the bed, where the darkness follows me in my deep brain waves, and I sense the monster inside." You are so good at this your use of language is outstanding, you can say so much with just one sentence. Great work. Congrats on your 1000 and the Top Story.

  • Tiffany Gordon 8 months ago

    Gurl you snapped on this one! That was out of this world! Just Heavenly! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

  • Oneg In The Arctic8 months ago

    Ugh. Your poetry is always so full of gut emotion.

  • Rachel Deeming8 months ago

    I like the defiance of this from the narrator in spite of the fact of them knowing where they came from and how that could shape them - if they let it. Congrats on 1000! Whoohoo! Here's to 1000 more. And congrats on Top Story but mainly, for a great poem.

  • Daphsam8 months ago

    Well done! congrats your making your 1000!

  • Cathy holmes8 months ago

    Wonderful. Fave lines "My mother laying like an oil painting soaked up with a slinky piece of leather Crowded over the precise nature of smooth." Really well done. Congrats on the TS.

  • I dream of making her silver, silky, gold-medal proud This was my most favourite line from this poem. I don't know how to explain it but it was so drawn to it! Also, congratulations on your 1000th piece! That's a huge milestone!

  • Congrats on 1000. I don't think I'm even at 100 yet, lol. Another intriguing teaser for your novel.

  • Grz Colm8 months ago

    And huge congrats sent your way on your 1000 piece! 🥳🎉🎉 Amazing. On a side note I misread the part about the song and thought it was by Green Day! Lol. It wasn’t!

  • Grz Colm8 months ago

    Oooh… haunting and fascinating! Terrific job Melissa. ☺️👏

  • loved this. And I am also a big fan of these big band covers

Melissa IngoldsbyWritten by Melissa Ingoldsby

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