Personal Challenge, Magaly

Hola, dear Toads!!!

In case my overuse of exclamation marks doesn’t make it obvious enough, let me say that my heart is about to burst with Poe-induced euphoria. I blame it all on Susie and the deliciously wicked personal challenge she bestowed upon me. You see, our Susie invited me to explore her fascination for Victorian hair jewelry… She mentioned her love for Edgar Allan Poe’s work… The moment I read the words hair (creepy bling) and Poe, in the same message, my Muse shrieked: “Ligeia!”

It writhes! – it writhes! – with mortal pangs

The mimes become its food,

And the seraphs sob at vermin fangs

In human gore imbued.

~ from “The Conqueror Worm,” in “Ligeia,” by Edgar Allan Poe

Hair, Teeth, Poe

            by Magaly Guerrero

We met at a wake.

Mourning shrouded,

everyone in attendance looked…

unattractive;

everyone but her.

I approached her in a daze—

hands trembling,

eyes ensnared by the raven-black

of her naturally-curling tresses,

heart taken by her serene countenance.

Throat clearing gone unacknowledged

filled me with mortal pangs.

I leaned forward,

placing my face as close as propriety allowed.

“Your mane has taken my heart,” I said.

Her ear was frigid to my words.

Unrequired love spooks easily.

Fueled by rejection, I turned to flee.

Then I saw the tremor upon the lips…

a dry line of pearly white.

I hugged her,

kissed the cotton in her mouth;

and before three pallbearers

(who obviously knew nothing about love)

could pull me out of my beloved’s casket,

my teeth bit into her hair

and I swallowed without chewing.

Laughter grew out of my mouth.

Every tongue bellowed, “Mad man!”

I roared louder—mirth fed

by the feeling of her hair coiling rings inside me,

increasing my love forevermore. 

***

This is a bit of Hair Jewelry (and Poe hair) trivia:

- “rings and bracelets of hair increase love” ~ Vadstena stads tankebok

- The Poe Foundation owns a “lock of hair cut from Poe’s brow.”

* No hairballs were ingested during the creation of this poem. 

Poe Hair at Poe Museum

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