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At Home With Adolf

Thursday 27th October 2011 10:45 am (first posted Tuesday 25th October 2011 7:44 pm)

For more than a year he screams to the sky, daring God to do his worst......
Disconcerting. See me stand at our small bay window,
shrinking into shadow.
...........

He reflects the sum, the sorry state,
political views, skewed past the norm,
there's a darkness inside, deception
of self, eternal, burnt deep within.

He tames his world with fire and ash,
pollutes Mrs Berman's white sheets grey,
excited by flames this man with a match,
it snows in our yard in the summertime.

He said, there's a halo, with a fold of his arms,
eagles and oak leaves, an iconic delight
I weep for his vision, the man he's become
I weep for myself, the requisite wife.

◄ It's The Way

Hope ►

Comments

Francine

Sun 30th Oct 2011 16:50

Stella! This is quite a thought-provoking and interesting read!

My favourite part:

'He tames his world with fire and ash,
pollutes Mrs Berman's white sheets grey,
excited by flames this man with a match,
it snows in our yard in the summertime.'

anthony neagle

Fri 28th Oct 2011 18:27

The idea was smart and the execution just beautiful

Rachel Bond

Fri 28th Oct 2011 11:48

dennis'cat

much like ma pal fae new york
i watch the buffoonery of ma ane hong kong fooner he
hae a bit maer wit tho fae shooer.

gnasher ma braer
black and spiked
little fellar
an accomplice
a clyde to his bon.

i get nae cred
for keeping them oot o tha gaol
but soo wit?

a cat's life is ne'er
maer than aloof

haha apologies to any real scots readers...this was my attempt at an irvine welsh style stab at the Dundee dialect of which my only experience was witnessing big nasty bar fight and waiting at hospital for friends to come out after the fact.
Dennis the Menace was created and written in Dundee. Little hard knock ;)
also based on time spent living in Glasgow and travelling in scotland this accent might be a bit skewed ;p

bring back hong kong fooey, dennis and the late great cartoons of my youth!!

hope you like stella, im waiting for batman :)

Rachel Bond

Fri 28th Oct 2011 11:26

haha i like your point isobel. the personal detachment has allowed a great flow and gentle humour.

julians comments - absolutely. i believe the art of poetry is to channel the subconscious inspiration. i am a follower of C. Jung and regard his theories on the psychological relationship with the collective subconscious and his work on archetype to be both fascinating and real for me.

applied to poetry and writing/arts in general Jung sates the gift of the artsist to be a connection and a vehicle, a medium almost (but not in spooky ghost way :)x

i always recommend the book 'women who run with the wolves' Clarissa Pinkola Estes, as a great example of Jungian psychological analysis of writing, particularly for the female experience. Its all about fairy tales x smashing read.

'artifice' - indeed it cannnot be faked Julian x crafting is something i m much better at if i let go, as stella has here.

Julian (Admin)

Fri 28th Oct 2011 10:30

In my view, and experience, good writing tends to operate at two levels, the conscious and the subconscious. We cannot always know what we are writing until we have written it; and even then not be sure.
I would go further and say that those who try to craft subconscious consciously - the clever beggars - risk having the result smacking of artifice.
Well done with this stellar piece, Stella.

Isobel

Fri 28th Oct 2011 10:26

I'm with Rachel on this one. I think it's great when poets can move beyond their own realm of experience and write on different themes. I think if this had been based on personal experience a little more anger would have come through, which might have spoiled it. Then we'd all be saying 'Aww poor Adolf - look what he had to put up with' ;

It was great to hear this performed last night. x

Rachel Bond

Thu 27th Oct 2011 22:46

the inherent cleverness is its gift stella x it doesnt matter that you never saw it from outside i believe poetry and the poet can be gifted on a purely subconscious level. i always work back to front, in my art work, dance appraisal/critique and writing. i make, then study. i think its a common method.

ps i think i am unique in having would be fascist grandparents?? who would think?

This is still brilliant and so are you (and slim:) x)

<Deleted User> (6315)

Thu 27th Oct 2011 11:05

Ok folks :)

Because I appreciate all the positive replies that this write has given me I feel I just have to say something about it..I feel as a fraud might do because when thinking about this and it did take me some time to finish, I never for one moment gave thought that it may be read on a more personal level..and to me that is so very shallow..I have no idea why I did not give thought to others interpretations, so when I read such replies I feel a bit small, (wish it was slim) for it appears far more clever than it actually is...anyways felt I had to say that.. :)

Isobel

Thu 27th Oct 2011 09:36

p.s. I doubt the wife would have been expendable. People like that feed off control and they need someone weaker than themselves to do that.

Isobel

Thu 27th Oct 2011 09:34

Brilliant poem Stella. I'm glad it's not biographical for you. Living with Hitler would be the most soul breaking thing imaginable.

There is so much to like in here. The fact that you only really have a glimpse of the wife. That lovely line about ash falling like snow and all the grey, disturbing connotations that brings with it, mentally and pyhysically. I liked the bit about the sheets too - you wouldn't think it possible to get humour in a poem of this nature but when you put the control freak in a domestic environment, it's there. Only funny to those on the outside though.

I loved this. x

Philipos

Thu 27th Oct 2011 08:53

Hi Stella, thank God indeed. I should have grabbed a recent book which takes us through the final stages of the war - although I do know of at least one other person I work with who used a similar title as a metaphor for a personal experience.

Rachel Bond

Thu 27th Oct 2011 00:43

wow stella. this is fantastic. i am so in awe of your cleverness with words, idea and your ability to put them together with the style of an experienced and gifted writer.you have handled the task impeccably, great idea. i am dead chuffed that weve met.

ps i also think you should do batman....i will do dennis the menace's cat...are we on?

Ray Miller

Wed 26th Oct 2011 23:39

Not quite sure what the first verse is doing but I like the rest.The 2nd verse is really good, though I don't think you need a comma after views.
This line lets the rest down, I think

excited by flames this man with a match,

different tone, rhyming with ash when it shouldn't etc.

I wrote a What if... poem about Hitler once. Gets you into all sorts of trouble.

Harry O'Neill

Wed 26th Oct 2011 23:16

Nice one Stella,
Manages to be political and (humanly) poetical.

(I presume mrs Bermans there as Jewish?)

I still can`t explain to myself why the snow in the yard (even coming after the fire, the flames, and the match) seems so exactly right for the poem.

<Deleted User> (6315)

Wed 26th Oct 2011 22:57

Philipos, many thanks for that comment I will say thanks on your blog too..just to clarify that it isn't biographical (thank goodness)..I just had a thought...if Hitler had been married early on..so I set myself a task.. I foolishly believed the write would be easy..believe me, it wasn't...I think that perhaps I shall write about being batmans girlfriend next.

Philipos

Wed 26th Oct 2011 19:31

A lot going on here chuck, a baring of the soul some might think and more than a hint of darkness all of which you manage to contain in 4 brief stanzas.

I found this quite powerful and hope that in the writing of it there was an element of therapy if centred around a biographical experience.

I'm surprised at the lack of other comments given the menace implied in this poem and the compelling title which certainly drew my eye. Well done you.

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