Bishop & Heflin – February 2021

Rose Menyon Heflin and Jennifer Bishop traded art and words. Jennifer shared this image, titled “Airplane” with Rose:

In response, Rose wrote this poem:

Like Icarus

Like Icarus
We flew
Together
Too close to the sun
Demise imminent
Yet somehow we still survived 

Our wings of steel
They never melted
But they
Could have
Should have
Would have
All the same
Had we only stayed aloft
A couple seconds longer

But just being 
There with you
Was consequence enough
Our black boxes lost
Somewhere along the way
Just like our tender souls

And coming down 
We never did quite 
Stick the landing
After all that turbulence

So we staggered off
Swimmingly dizzy
Stomachs roiling nauseously
And drifting drunkenly apart
Nothing left of us

Except Icarian memories
We alternately 
Conjure lovingly
And then try to forget   

* * * * *

Rose shared this poem with Jennifer:

Modern Mindfulness

Between built in obsolescence
And memories that cut too deep,
It does no good to name your children,
Tie your own trout flies,
Dye your hair,
Or worship idol gods,

Because somewhere between
“Ashes! Ashes!  We all fall down!”
And “Ashes to ashes 
And dust to dust,”
Empty, shadowed graveyards 
And dusty, forgotten urns beckon – 
A magnetic pull
Against which we are helpless. 

Unfortunately,
All those voodoo dolls you’ll poke,
Carefully putting pins in,
Will only result
In a creaking in your own joints
And disquieting palpitations
In your own damn chest.
All the while,
Your intention dolls are worthless,
’Cause you never had the heart,
And all those baby dolls 
People bought you as a child
That you never really wanted,
That you secretly loathed
And were insulted by,
That you never played with,
And that your parents eventually 
Quietly got rid of,
Finally ended up in the landfill –
Your own personal long overdue indictment 
Of the patriarchy.

So, don’t fall in love 
With your own poetry,
Because this world 
Will never feel the same.
Merciless in brevity
And eternally cruel,
It won’t pay you anything,
Be it for good service
Or another job well done.  
It will only break your heart 
And then start, 
One by one,
In on your brittle bones.

But go ahead and salt your sidewalks.
There’s no point aiding fate;
Just be careful
Of your motivations, 
And just do it all
Out of spite anyhow.

In response, Jennifer made this image, titled “Stone Angel”: