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!
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.
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
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Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insight
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Comments (22)
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!
What a surprise of sensations and textures! Congrats on the top story!
A beautifully crafted piece that captures the intricacies of familial bonds and personal growth. Thank you for sharing with us this masterpiece!
Love this! Congrats on Top Story but also congrats on 1,000 pieces! What an exceptional piece of poetry to celebrate it with!
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
The music goes so well with this. I played and read it. So many good lines, that are deep
Bravoooo!! 🙌
Congratulations on Top Story too!!!❤️💕
Melissa, marvelous smooth inspirational poem!!! Loved it!!!💕❤️❤️
I'm back to say congratulations on your Top Story!!!!
"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.
Gurl you snapped on this one! That was out of this world! Just Heavenly! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Ugh. Your poetry is always so full of gut emotion.
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.
Well done! congrats your making your 1000!
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.
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!
Oooh… haunting and fascinating! Terrific job Melissa. ☺️👏
loved this. And I am also a big fan of these big band covers