Saturday, June 16, 2018

Do You Hear the Whispers?

When did they begin, when the heat kicked on the air?
Rumble, sigh, murmur, thick air damp with sound--
Whispers, Jeff, that rustle through the paperwork
While the machines wring the breath itself and you hear
Whispers, Jeff, outside the door and down the hall.
Your office smelt of summer salt and then it smelt of autumn.
Somewhere leaves are burning, Jeff, somewhere down the hall
Beyond the door where the water is dying, Jeff,
Beyond corridors dark as the night building, filled
With whispers, Jeff.
Until the smoke puffs through the vent and all the leaves
Are crackling likes the jaws of something surfacing upon
A field of bones and fire. Tell me, Jeff, are these the jaws
That whispered a little while before, the ones that sighed
As the damp drained off, the ones who parted to lick
All the leaves the swamp has left behind when the waters
Found their mercy, Jeff, and rose above the stink?
Something hungry came for all the leaves, burning
Underneath for just this piquant rottenness.
Do you hear the whispers, Jeff?
Do you hear the fire?

10 comments:

  1. That whisper before the final sigh rings like storm before total silence.

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  2. This poem is so intriguing, one wants to know the back story. So well done. The office smelling of summer leaves, then of autumn, the leaves burning.......wonderful!

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  3. This is so frightening... the reek of fire and the whisper make me think of Greenfell towers...

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  4. I really like the sense of power you conjure here Chrissa - your ambition and originality too... I will certainly be back for more!

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  5. Haunting and a bit frightening for Jeff....

    Donna@LivingFromHappiness

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  6. Very haunting. I wonder who "Jeff" is and if he was trapped in this fire or ........ powerful writing.

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  7. This sounds and feels to me very much like a wild fire approaching and trapping her and Jeff before they can get away. Quite a frightening and gripping poem.

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  8. Wow.. this is wonderfully written.. chilling, the name repetition works beautifully.

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