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