MAG Poetry Competition 2010 – Shortlisted Poem
Siesta
by
St Andre de Valborgne, France
Lizards line the lintels;
cats stretch out like pelts
to sip at pockets of shade,
too tired to twitch at passing flies.
Your coiled body gilds our bed
as our sweat drifts, pungent, mingling;
my foot in your hand
glistening like clay.
The clock’s second hand
trails like a stick along park railings
collecting the minutes and hours;
spiders slouch in silk cradles
among the whitewashed beams
their bodies fat on flies;
through the open window,
the spark of cicadas, legs like tinder,
so dry they could set this afternoon alight.
We glitter like a Klimt on these crumpled sheets
your green eyes flickering,
flickering like freshwater pools,
quenching my thirst.
Added: 07.04.2010
28.05.2010
Some fantastic imagery. I almost feel like I'm there, inside the poem; reading it is a real experience. Well done!
28.05.2010
Sexy in a good way.
03.06.2010
Like a painting, stong images of colour and shades.
15.06.2010
I love the use of alliteration and the use of rythym, which mirrors the lazy lovers and the creatures around them.
16.06.2010
Wonderfully evocative poem. The heat, the heaviness, the timelessness -
17.06.2010
Great use of similes
20.06.2010
Wonderfully expresses the sensuous lassitude of sated calmn. Great images - 'sip at..shade', 'stretched out..pelts' - every word counts
21.06.2010
Loved much of this. Fab image in stanza 3. Brilliant (and in 5). Great alliteration line 1 and use of sound in whole of stanza 1
22.06.2010
Love the imagery. Words chosen for their sounds but appeal to senses. Perfect vignette.
22.06.2010
1st reading,didn't get/like the poem. 2nd reading fell in love with it. Eventually with each reading it moved to my top 4. wonderful imagery
22.06.2010
Created a hot, steamy midsummer atmosphere
22.06.2010
Brilliant