ulyssey

Ingrid

This is a poem about the poet Ingrid Jonker which I wrote in 2004. She was born in 1933 and committed suicide in 1965 aged 31.

The poem sounds a bit sloppy now I guess.





Ingrid
Upon reading "Time of Waiting in Amsterdam"

You touched something deep
I knew you my whole life
and only discovered you now...
and you turned away abruptly; explosively
Your pain crystallised

Cool moist breeze
red lights streaked over wet tar, receding...
Mountainous shadows looming in the dark
shrouded, cowering spectators

Inky mirror undulating
This oily trickster did not deserve you
slithering cowering hands - jealously concealing its prey
fending off behind glistening rocks

Damp spray betrays your presence
encrusted salt
preserved, arrested in your peak
Cool moist breath rushing over my face

Reach out
let me turn you...
tell you that this was not your time
There is more;
there is abundance

A pasty streak reflected
a pale moon seals your truth under this turbid grave

posted by Uli @ 4:53 AM