Ageing: An Alliterative Ambivalence
©April 12th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
Glimmering light on golden paper-skin
Glazed with age, making way
For pale cracks in the frail porcelain –
Light settling like a smile on silver hair –
Hair, coruscating like a cormorant
On the wing, wending its white-breasted way
Across a flash of febrile water, agitated
By Spring hurtling pell-mell into heat-hell.
Eyes, deep and wise as a well in the woods
And fingers, gnarled, not nimble anymore
Fumble at their knitting, but the skill’s still there.
Bones like biscuits, ready to crumble,
But still intact, still indicating strength.
Set of shoulders, thin, tight from aching
Under the burden of a full life, betraying
Tension, but not fear, not frustration.
Muscles knotted tight – mere
Massage could never undo them.
For, if they were to un-knot, and the shoulders
Were to relax, she would unwind unawares,
And float away, like dandelion fluff, farther
Than she has ever dreamed of going.
Should she, she wonders dismally, despairing –
Then shakes off the thought, through habit.
There’s too much life left in her light-filled attic.
Dandelion-fluff can wait for another frail decade.
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Today’s Day 12 NaPoWriMo 2017 prompt reads:
Today, I’d like you to write a poem that explicitly incorporates alliteration (the use of repeated consonant sounds) and assonance (the use of repeated vowel sounds). This doesn’t mean necessarily limiting yourself to a few consonants or vowels, although it could. Even relatively restrained alliteration and assonance can help tighten a poem, with the sounds reinforcing the sense.
