Isadora Gruye is a writer and photographer. She lives in Minnesota
Over Our Throats by Isadora Gruye
Girls like me been gettin cut up for centuries.
Girls who know their center of gravity is nestled warmingly
between their hips as bright as a violet waking at dawn.
Girls like me been dancin all the the while,
limbs loose and fancy slippers weaving back and forth,
lips as plump as the grapes we were never fed.
Girls like me, we know your rituals.
You pay the ferryman. You pay the tax man.
Your fingers run freely to our pockets, to our dimples
and over our throats.
We are a twig to be snapped.
A reed to be bent.
We fold and unfold,
skipping across cobblestones
with palms running over graffitied walls.
We chuckle and wail
and keep bread crumbs in our aprons.
At our backs, the world sneers
before coaxing us down the street and tripping us when most opportune.
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Isadora has offered the Real Toads the use of her photographic images as inspiration for our poetry. We may select from any of the pictures featured here today, but please remember to acknowledge the name of the artist.
The Sunday Challenge is posted on Saturday at noon to allow extra time for the creative process, so please do not link up old work which kind of fits the challenge at a push. I will only respond to poetry written specifically for this prompt: this is in the spirit of the Real Toads project to create opportunities for poets to be newly inspired.
one of the very greats on the blogosphere here! definitely a well deserved spotlight Kerry, her poems are head and shoulders above most - as shown with the poem here - she has a very unique ability to pick up on small things which completely angle her poems and add a new depth i.e. "and keep bread crumbs in our aprons".
ReplyDeleteThe photos are great too, don't know how much sense this will make but they have that same tone or feel as your poems almost! love the second one with the statue!
Nice Cage has been a very recent discovery for me. That woman can write.
ReplyDeleteMy drivel is up.
Hard to follow a poem like the one quoted, so I'm not trying, but the the top photo had something it wanted from me, apparently. The others are also excellent.
ReplyDeleteLoved the photos and tried to do justice with that last one! What a nice photo prompt. Isadora's work is top-notch.
ReplyDeleteWe are very spoiled, having several illustrations to choose from. And I'll be visiting the poet. Strangely, the word verification is VERSED!
ReplyDeleteWe chuckle and wail.
ReplyDeleteThe whole poem by Isadora is amazing and I can see them in that alley...
Thanks for the poem and the photography which uses light so intriguingly.
This is a real opportunity to further exploration. Thankyou.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the introduction to Isadora and her work...what a marvelous talent.
ReplyDeleteSuch excellent responses to these images.. I see I have been left behind again. I'd better get cracking...
ReplyDeletethanks all for your comments and your great poems! I have read everyone so far, and if I haven't dropped a comment on your piece yet, be rest assured...I will. Very impressive work for a sunday challenge!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll agree with Hedge that the lead poem by Isadora is hard to post next to -- savage garden indeed, the heart eking its way in this world. I went for a photo in Gruye's online portfolio that probably is one of the shadows in her poem -- and sing it from the other shore. Great challenge, great photos, great poems here - Brendan
ReplyDeleteOkay, here's my confession (since Marian has called me out). Mine was written after watching Seasons 1 and 2 of "The Walking Dead" back to back all of last week. Haha! Throw in the 40C temps, and the fact that the town's water supply has been cut-off after a severe thunderstorm washed away the pipes on Friday night, and you might have an inkling of my Dystopian vision. It was the weeds growing on the turrets of Izzy's building which tied up all the connections.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful photographs! Not sure my poem lives up to it, but definitely enjoyed giving it a shot!
ReplyDeletesuch gorgeous photos. i've been browsing and gazing all weekend. thank you for introducing us to Isadora!
ReplyDeletehah! kerry, one zombie fan to another, it wasn't actually my intention to call you out. :) and i cannot wait for the next episodes of The Walking Dead.
ReplyDeleteI miss everyone. And I am working on my project but I cannot stop writing poetry.
ReplyDeletevery much agree with what OT said above. both on the strength of her poetry and the importance and weight of the details.
ReplyDeleteboth are evident in her photography as well as her poetry.
i've been pondering these for a few days. i'm caught in particular by two things - the littered paper under the gate in the first shot, and the telephone (?) wires in the last.