Oh, My Percy! (Poem prompted by One Single Impression)

Wow. The journey to this poem was quite – well, intriguing.

 

I had no idea “overt” would take me where it did and isn’t that some of the mystery that is poetry? This poem sounds more like a confession though there is certainly an element of “overt” in confession, isn’t there? The prompt came from "One Single Impression", which is quickly becoming one of my favorite places for weekly writing prompts.

 

Read on and hear of my most common romantic yearnings. My children would say “TMI, Mom! Do you think people really want to read or know this stuff?”

 

Hmmm. Not sure if you do or not, but I do hope you will find it humorous or honest or silly or… reflective of you, as well.

 

Enjoy!

Oh, My Percy -

I fell in love today and wondered, immediately

Did Mary Oliver name her dog for him?

You know the dog, her Percy?

She writes of walks and reflections

Leaping from his limbs, that Percy -

 

At first I thought it was just his biography

I wanted. I’m speaking of Shelley, no not Mary

I want a biography – a life line –  like Percy's.

I want  people to look at my words and say

“I have drunken deep of joy” here, and sigh…

 

He was the poet, that poet, the one poet

whose "whose passionate search for personal

love and social justice was gradually channeled

from overt actions into poems that rank with the

greatest in the English language." those

brilliant folks from ThinkExist.com introduced us

 

I want to have a biography like him.

I will say it out loud, here, overtly

I will credit those who brought us

into connection - since I never

gave Percy any thought today yet now.

I think I am in love.

I have yet another Dead Man Crush.

 

I have many of those you know.

My Alberts: Schweitzer and Einstein

My Henry: as in David Thoreau -

pencil factory owner, Walden Pond

dweller his deliberate solitude

would know my alone need

coupled with my fond desire

of time with him,  his poetry,

his deep thinking mind

 

(I worry I would get on his nerves)

 

Each time I turn it seems another

dead man attempts to woo me

with his Romantic speech and notions

I toss aside all my physical predilections

for just one of Rainer Rilke's whispers in

my ear, my chin rises toward his voice

 

I want to learn German so I can touch

his untranslated meaning.

 

They elevate me, these dead man crushes.

I am open about them – obviously

 I don't hide the fact that I have a long list of

amorous non-suitors separated from

by the impossible to be intimate grave.

 

I don't go for dead guys like

James Dean or the typical pretty-boys

Bring me some Whitman smattered with

Some speckles of  May Sarton

(My crushes even crush the

gender line for I am more bold when

my lost love crosses death's boundaries.

 

For today, my love reaches to Percy.

I look to the page and find “A poet is a nightingale,

who sits in darkness and sings”

I hear the bird song“to cheer its own

solitude with sweet sounds.”

and I know this love is not unrequited

I fall into his outstretched from the

Soil arms and find “Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.”

And know that in speaking his words

On this page and in your mind –

Percy is still blissfully alive….

 

   

Julie Jordan Scott delivers conscious inspiration in the Daily Passion Activator, - insights delivered directly into your email box. Why not Subscribe today? It's free.

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Comments

[Anthony North]

You've romanced the Romantics there. Nice one.

[Amity]

I am smiling Julie with this sensible humor-like poem you've penned and somehow I could relate in some ways...why, I also adore great men, dead or alive, overtly and who cares, right?

beautiful as always Julie and I love the patience you always render in your works...

btw, i had a hard time posting a comment once in your 3WW offering, I wonder what is wrong with your page or maybe the poor net connection...

i hope this will be posted now...thanks so much Julie, you make my day, full of *smiles*...:-)))

[Tumblewords]

Envious. I have given my all to the undead. Now I'll follow your lead and make happy with the dead man crush. I love this piece!

[JanePoet]

the overt nature of a crush ... literary or otherwise ... brilliant!

whether or not your children think this is TMI, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

thanks for your contribution to the prompt!!

peace,
JP/deb

[Harshad]

“I have drunken deep of joy”
Indeed.

[SandyCarlson]

Yes, yes, yes. But Mary is sane whereas Percy....
Beautiful poem. Thanks, for this.

[Jim]

Sounds great, Julie. I love your "another Dead Man Crush." Your poem reminded me a little of the English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams) in Dead Poets Society. :)

It also made me think about identifying with one of your guys or another from the dead. Right now I cannot think of one I'd like. Perhaps James Henry Leigh Hunt for his Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) I do ID with Einstein not for poetry but rather for his abdominal aortic aneurysm. I have one that has been repaired with a stent.
..

[Gemma]

"I want people to look at my words and say 'I have drunken deep of joy' here, and sigh…"

That is the goal of all poets. Very aptly put.

And I *love* the "Dead Man Crush"--Nice to know I'm not the only one!!