One Layer Deeper
One Layer Deeper
by Helen Losse
I pass through heavy curtains into
a chamber filled with many chairs.
No one invites me to sit. It’s not quite
dark, and I am alone. The air is heavy,
as though lacking oxygen, as though
the last of hope has faded, with just
hints of remembrance. It is neither
night nor day, so how can shadows be
everywhere? I am not closed in, yet I
feel the weight of too many conflicts,
too many wars, too many years of fighting.
Will no one come to lessen my sorrow?
Heaviness falls & remains fallen. I have
no words for this. What did I think it
would be? Echoes of silence grow like
mold on my white cotton shroud. One
layer deeper; & still no one to comfort, or
even to whisper my name? Tired, I finally
sit before a long, empty table, where time
does not pass. I see no fire, no inferno.
-this poem refers to the line “We have not words for this” in Rose Auslander’s poem This
Val
June 25, 2010
I felt the desolation and confusion intimately. This is one of those poems that connect directly to the reader, as if they are being told something exclusively and of great importance. I really loved this one.
jessiecarty
June 25, 2010
Like listening through a closed door
Clare L. Martin
July 9, 2010
I will let this one seep into my subconscious….maybe I will refer to this one?
jessiecarty
July 9, 2010
We would love that
We have a short fiction piece that will be referring from this very soon!
Clare L. Martin
July 9, 2010
I would love it too! I will call my muse.
helenl
July 23, 2010
This poem was written to the prompt, “Write a poem about going one layer deeper in Dante’s Inferno.”
jessiecarty
July 23, 2010
And the referrals go one layer deeper, Helen
Dorothee
July 23, 2010
So exciting to see the image here on the page now – this is my 3rd image in Referential, yet it is the first that was inspired directly by reading the poem, especially the lines: “Heaviness falls & remains fallen. I have no words for this.”
It made me think of the mood that was lingering in the street when i took the picture – all those heavy buildings, and a grey sky. i digitally altered the picture, picking up on the “layer”-theme, and turning the sky into an extra layer, and then working in those 2 layers. that’s how i arrived at the image. (the city in the image is Vienna – i will put up a note in the blog with the original image this weekend).
jessiecarty
July 23, 2010
Looking forward to seeing the original image too! Feel free to link it here
Karyn
July 23, 2010
This photo has such an interesting quality. It reminds me of a particular type of animation I’ve seen in movies. I get the sense that if I pressed the image, it would start to move.
jessiecarty
July 23, 2010
Oh I love that Karyn! You are giving me writing ideas! Perhaps we should start hosting prompts too
Dorothee
July 26, 2010
i now put the original image online, here’s the short link: http://bit.ly/9gZe0n
and interesting about the movie animation association. but yes, this could be out of an animated film. here’s another image that has a layered sky, very different in color, but the mood is going in the same direction: “Flaming Moon, Bratislava”: http://www.pbase.com/image/125935327
the “Flaming Moon” was a collaborate work with Steve Wing, it gave me the idea to follow this layer approach.
jessiecarty
July 26, 2010
Love all these new images you are linking too, Dorothee. You really do a lot of collaborative work which I think is fantastic. Wonder if Steve has anything he wants to send us