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The elegance and painful reverie of “smooth”

A new poem for my character John Becker for The Half Paper Moon. My 1,000 piece on Vocal!

By Melissa IngoldsbyPublished 2 years ago 1 min read
Top Story - November 2023

i soak up the leather

Of my mother’s heels

It feels like the very edge of the bed, where the darkness follows me in my deep brain waves, and I sense the monster inside

Soaking my sheets like the muddy Mississipi River of “arm full of needles” ghosts

Once the sun cries and leaks its tendrils

I start to comprehend the elegance

And painful reverie of

“Smooth”

I soak up the process of this study

Inside my hollow guts

So twisted

As I grapple the mother title I had to claim for myself,

As I run around the house with the click of the heels

My mother laying like an oil painting soaked up with a slinky piece of leather

Crowded over the precise nature of smooth

Colliding and lying to me

I dream of making her silver, silky, gold-medal proud

I will not drown

In this way,

No.

———

Author note: The Half Paper Moon is NOW available on Golden Storyline Books! The Kindle is available now on Amazon! The paperback will be available soon.

performance poetryart

About the Creator

Melissa Ingoldsby

My work:

Patheos,

The Job, The Space Between Us, Green,

The Unlikely Bounty, Straight Love, The Heart Factory, The Half Paper Moon, I am Bexley and Atonement by JMS Books

Silent Bites by Eukalypto

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insight

  1. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

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Comments (22)

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  • KuroHoshi2 years ago

    Amazing poem! I love the ending of "I will not drown in this way, no" and congrats on your top story and 1,000 piece!

  • The Dani Writer2 years ago

    What a surprise of sensations and textures! Congrats on the top story!

  • Kulshum Khatoon2 years ago

    A beautifully crafted piece that captures the intricacies of familial bonds and personal growth. Thank you for sharing with us this masterpiece!

  • Paul Stewart2 years ago

    Love this! Congrats on Top Story but also congrats on 1,000 pieces! What an exceptional piece of poetry to celebrate it with!

  • Caroline Jane2 years ago

    Marvellous poetic foreshadowing there. Twisted melancholy. Wonderful... oh, and I love Postmodern Jukebox too. Their version of creep is superb. Congratulations. 😁

  • Lovely words Sis, and gonna include this as an addition to my Milestones piece

  • JBaz2 years ago

    The music goes so well with this. I played and read it. So many good lines, that are deep

  • Lisa santos2 years ago

    Bravoooo!! 🙌

  • Babs Iverson2 years ago

    Congratulations on Top Story too!!!❤️💕

  • Babs Iverson2 years ago

    Melissa, marvelous smooth inspirational poem!!! Loved it!!!💕❤️❤️

  • I'm back to say congratulations on your Top Story!!!!

  • Gerald Holmes2 years ago

    "It feels like the very edge of the bed, where the darkness follows me in my deep brain waves, and I sense the monster inside." You are so good at this your use of language is outstanding, you can say so much with just one sentence. Great work. Congrats on your 1000 and the Top Story.

  • Tiffany Gordon2 years ago

    Gurl you snapped on this one! That was out of this world! Just Heavenly! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

  • Ugh. Your poetry is always so full of gut emotion.

  • Rachel Deeming2 years ago

    I like the defiance of this from the narrator in spite of the fact of them knowing where they came from and how that could shape them - if they let it. Congrats on 1000! Whoohoo! Here's to 1000 more. And congrats on Top Story but mainly, for a great poem.

  • Daphsam2 years ago

    Well done! congrats your making your 1000!

  • Cathy holmes2 years ago

    Wonderful. Fave lines "My mother laying like an oil painting soaked up with a slinky piece of leather Crowded over the precise nature of smooth." Really well done. Congrats on the TS.

  • I dream of making her silver, silky, gold-medal proud This was my most favourite line from this poem. I don't know how to explain it but it was so drawn to it! Also, congratulations on your 1000th piece! That's a huge milestone!

  • Congrats on 1000. I don't think I'm even at 100 yet, lol. Another intriguing teaser for your novel.

  • Grz Colm2 years ago

    And huge congrats sent your way on your 1000 piece! 🥳🎉🎉 Amazing. On a side note I misread the part about the song and thought it was by Green Day! Lol. It wasn’t!

  • Grz Colm2 years ago

    Oooh… haunting and fascinating! Terrific job Melissa. ☺️👏

  • loved this. And I am also a big fan of these big band covers

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