You can hear them,
like little
ghosts
haunting the
air at night,
though we
don’t have
the blue note
whippoorwill
in our evergreens.
If you’ve ever
hummed a dry, lonesome aria
from your
own warbling wind struck throat
you can hear
them—
in the hollowed
out whisper-choke,
strummed endless
in black on wet pillowed nights,
haunted and
hidden.
Yes, you can
hear them, even here,
always, when
you’ve known lonely,
so ink-dark
and bled deep to bone.
Or maybe
they can hear you.
© 2013
Jennifer Wagner
At dVerse host Tony Maude has invited us to write to any
FFA or MTB prompt they’ve offered in the past.
I chose Victoria Slotto's Literary Allusion. One of my all time favorite short stories is
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I also love the haunting song Midnight in Montgomery by Alan Jackson. Each work
references the beautifully eerie call of the nightjar bird, the Eastern Whip-poor-will. I have alluded to each
work in my piece. Happy year 3
dVerse!
23 comments:
Love that end..
dang...when you have known lonely...and humming an aria of the dry wind of your throat....def a haunting little verse...have you seen the promos for the new sleepy hollow tv show...not sure on that one...smiles....
cool title, did not know that was another name for it...
I have always wanted to hear the night-jar... sounds like an interesting and eerie call that would make my night...
so ink-dark and bled deep to bone....this is wonderful... loved the images in the second stanza as well much..and really makes me curious to check out the links as well...
I hear them in your poem, Jennifer. I really hear them!
Both those stories are pretty dark - and you've kept that mood here, Jennifer. Nicely done.
Love the ending!
a bit of mystery wrapped around your lines.... at first it was someone's hand in a cookie jar... LOL
Jennifer, this is so beautifully rendered. There's an eerie, yet peaceful play in this and I love the images you create. Kudos.
wonderful play on the senses, Jen. I love Alan's song too.
As I read, I immediately thought of the Hank Williams song. This is beautiful.
This is great! I really enjoyed reading this.
www.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Some years ago, when I lived out in the woods, another nightjar species, the Chuck-will's widow, stayed in an old broken down oak tree 20 feet from the house. Every night during the summer I heard the mournful song. Thanks for reminding me of this, and for writing such a beautiful poem. Excellent!
This is wonderful!! I love listening to birds on an otherwise calm night!! :-)
Wonderfully haunting...Excellent lines, Excellent poetry. :)
Love the whole piece Jennifer ~ The twist in the ending was good & unexpected ~
Beautiful writing. Adore the phrase "so ink-dark and bled deep to bone". Raw and awesome.
I hear you.
Sensitive characterization...awesome!
Beautiful Jennifer. We are what we read, and love, aren't we?
haunting & with a beautiful use of language - i especially like
"If you’ve ever hummed a dry, lonesome aria
from your own warbling wind struck throat"
and the unexpectedness of the final line
Your ending liine was a punching end alright!
"Yes, you can hear them, even here,
always, when you’ve known lonely,
so ink-dark and bled deep to bone.
Or maybe they can hear you."
This was by far the most poignant stanza...i love how you formulated it !
Beautiful poem!
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