Closet Golliwog

The room is dank and stale,
bedsheets and underwear shudder
in the closet bottom.

There, mucus stains
and bits of broken chicken bones
lie strewn as the slain
after Troy was sacked.

Windows are dark and dirty,
haunting curtains fly
as the lonesome winds sigh.

Pretentious music faintly sings:
bit-sized string quartets
chime a jolly melody
to an imaginary audience.

The mind grows faint from
pleasure's distress,
and foreboding what
may never come.

Reality is the nightmare
we mindlessly endure:
To escape in poetry
is like running off a cliff-
to an impending, thrilling end.

But it is more:
to rise from the dead as from sleep,
and know
that there's one more day
that must be lived.

About This Poem

Last Few Words: A little exercise in free-verse.

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Editing - rough draft

About the Author

Region, Country: Ghana, GHA

Favorite Poets: William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Henry Longfellow, William Yates, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath

Comments

William Saint George

12 years 7 months ago

You make a lot of sense

and I agree with you on that stanza. I felt it was a bit off, but I thought it was the second line that didn't work. Using the "nightmare" line you suggested feels a little too strong for the theme though, but I'll go along with it until something comes up.

Thanks.

Ian.T

12 years 7 months ago

W St G

I loved the description and run of this piece, I just fail to see what the title has to do with the poem.
Golliwog, well they have also been thrown to the back of the closets by PC. I can remember my Mother knitting them and they were beautiful, in their jackets and always smiling, the dolly gave hours of pleasure to many children, but is this the connection in your write ????
Yours Ian.T

William Saint George

12 years 7 months ago

Dear Ian

I used the golliwog here because of it's grotesqueness, which I like by the way. They have a queer sort of beauty, but I'm highlighting the "queerness" bit.

I'll admit there is a slight disconnect with the later part of the poem, which was intended. The first part (1-4) is more "closet golliwog" than the later, which acts as a resolution, leaving the metaphor behind. I wanted to describe someone who isn't as he wants to be seen.

It's well noted, your observation.

Geezer

12 years 7 months ago

I too...

felt the end came much too quickly for this piece. All the suggestions I've seen seem valid for this work. My own personal view is; I would try to insert something in between the sixth and seventh stanzas to tie them together. ~ Gee

William Saint George

12 years 7 months ago

I think

the problem comes because I was trying to avoid rambling. After 5 stanzas of descriptions, I thought it would be good to break away and get to my point.