Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit
“what is beautiful?”
asks Eliza
for she thinks
that she is not
because they tell her
she is not
“why are they hurtful?”
as if the outside
somehow sullies
what is inside
and insinuates the sour
to what is sweet
“why do they ridicule?”
the size the shape
the roughness of my skin
the growths
the fact my spine
Is out of shape
“why do they seek perfection?”
in the contours
of my body
when the real beauty
hides beneath
the surface
Eliza weeps
in the darkness
where they throw her
cheapened
by the labels
placed upon her
but in that hour of hunger
when the beautiful have left
and the late night pangs
ravage the body
Eliza is the glory
of a midnight feast
Eliza is the life
to a starving child
the sustenance
to the lost
on the streets
of the cities
Eliza
is beautiful
as she always was
Eliza
is beautiful
as she is
<Deleted User> (13762)
Mon 4th Jun 2018 21:34
Interesting poem and subject matter Ian which I enjoyed reading. I was wondering how it might work with the last 4 verses interspersed between the first 4:
“what is beautiful?”...
Eliza weeps...
“why are they hurtful?”...
in that hour of hunger...
etc
as it stands it feels a bit like two one-sided conversations bolted together. Maybe you've done it this way for performance whereas I'm coming to it on the page so to speak - as a reader rather than a listener.
I was in a discussion here recently about explaining poetry. I think in this case the added picture and tags are a distraction - the words speak for themselves.
Hope you don't mind me chucking my musings at you Ian. All the very best, Colin.