Saturday, August 20, 2011

Rust















Look at the rust,
How it spreads like lichens
Over overlapping tin,
Turning panels rich red
Brown and bluish gray
And dusty black,
Until it grits the metal surface
To coarse sand and turns edges
Toward the sun like petals.
See the rust
That trims the drying buds
Of roses silent curled,
Paper-veined and thin,
Self-contained and beaten
By the peeling brown.
Listen to the creaking rust
Of threaded cap and pipe,
Complicit as they hold to one another.
Look at your rusty hair
Gone thin and white, my skin
Blooming with the creeping rust of age.
See us turn toward the sun
And hold to one another, complicit
In the silence of our veins.

- Posted by Karen

16 comments:

  1. Oh Karen, this is so warm. It is a bloom.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have been called a crusty old bastard but never a rusty old bastard. I think that's because they always used titanium to put me back together with. I think I would rather rust on away from this place, that long slow deterioration where no wrench fits quite right anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rust is one of my very favorite things, but you already knew that. Nice piece.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love how you turned something that's inorganic and rough into something organic and delicate; it really is pretty lichen-like. (Lichenous?) The colors and textures really pop out in this one... very splendid. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love how you've tied everything together in this poem.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have really explored so well, depthfully and poetically, the many facets of rust in this poem! Nice.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love the turn of the words to oneself, rusting with age but holding to each other ~ Lovely share ~

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a very poetic exploration of rust and all it may suggest both literally and figuratively.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Love the development of the idea of rust and its expansion. Beautifully penned. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. It is a pretty sort of red, isn't it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. lovely! I especially like "See us turn toward the sun and hold to one another
    complicit in the silence of our veins." Wonderful writing!

    ReplyDelete
  12. this seductive substance that we like the looks of, but which at the same time surreptitiously destroys what it feeds on: you describe it so well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Our being's are metal, time is but rust waiting to encapsulate us all. Good job. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. How beautifully and specifically you look at rust from both a literal and metaphorical perspective. The complexities of a simple thing fascinate.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The whole thing fits perfectly. A gem here Karen. Loved this.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "How it spreads like lichens"

    Bravo! What a great line.

    ReplyDelete