Melanie Faith holds an MFA in poetry from Queens University of Charlotte, NC. Her instructional article about editing poetry was published in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Writers’ Journal. She has a poem forthcoming in Tapestry (Delta State University, Spring 2011) as well as an essay about Thoreau and the internet from Front Range Review (University of Montana, Spring 2011). Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and won the Anne E. Sucher Poetry Prize. She has been a small-town newspaper journalist, an ESL classroom teacher for international students, and (currently) a literature and writing tutor at a private college prep high school in Pennsylvania and an online creative writing instructor.
What the Roses Hear
By: Melanie Faith
Yowls!
from the Ferris Wheel.
The purple and blue glitter
bumper cars play-crashing teens
one into another, a tonal torrent
arms and lungs
caterwauling hysteria
round the loop-de-loop
coaster, down the embankment,
across the paved
four-lane highway to the heights,
garden sculpted hillside—
otherwise cemetery still. Few tourists
stop here amongst the American Beauties—
long-rooted, possessing few thorns
under cloudless skies. These blooms
haven’t earned their scarlet— though
don’t think them sedate. Even tucked
between the foot bridge
and arborvitae, their petals tremble
with the near-invisible
weight of sunlight. And why
wouldn’t they, too,
shiver—
stalks absorbing shrieks,
emerging
screaming
electric green.
Melanie Faith ©
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World Poetry would like to welcome a long time supporter and friend who has been waiting a long time to get on this site. Best, Ariadne
Thanks, Ariadne. It’s a joy to be featured at World Poetry Reading Series! 🙂
. . .their petals tremble
with the near-invisible
weight of sunlight.
– Love the idea of the weight of sunlight.
. . . And why
wouldn’t they, too,
shiver—
stalks absorbing shrieks,
emerging
screaming
electric green.
– The image of stalks absorbing shrieks is brilliant!
Thanks, Dorothy! 🙂 I appreciate your kind comments on my poem. I am so happy that you enjoyed these two particular passages, because they are images that I worked on carefully through a few drafts. Hope your writing is going splendidly! 🙂
Very clever poem, Melanie, in its contrasting of the world of nature and modern machines through very sensual language, draws the reader into your setting.
Your words echo what roses hear, pushing readers to see the world of the circus rides anew, awaking memories of our young visits to children rides and then later to graveyards: very effective in capturing our attention.
Thanks so much for your kind words about my poem, Bernice. 🙂 I appreciate it.