Jeremiah's School of Levitation

Upsy-Daisy!

Friday, April 28, 2006

Poetry Friday Again Again!

(I changed the post slightly from earlier and added another muddy tale, one that I'd inadvertently deleted last night. Enjoy.)

For the uninitiated, each week, a fellow blogger gives us a word and we all create something--anything: words, pictures, or noises--that pertains to that word and we post our creation so that we can all share in the brain sparks. By the way, anyone who wants to join in can email me and I'll make sure you get funnelled the word of the week and get put on the reading list. Mona got it started and mediates it (yes, Mona, you're hired!) and jo(e) provided an exceptional word this week, which was "muddy." Here are my bits on that word. One's a poem, one's a tale.

Muddy (the Poem)

Everytime it rains
the wooly clouds fall
and
get stuck
in the mud.

You bend down
to feel the muddy earth
because
that's your secret way
to touch the sky.


Muddy (the tale)

"I want to be Muddy Waters this time," said Jeena.

"I'm going to be Muddy," said Rocket.

"You always get to be Muddy."

"Because I do the best Muddy."

"Your Muddy is wack."

"Your Muddy is worse."

She sighed. Her gentle brown hair fell over her eyes and she left it there. "I'm quitting the band if I can't be Muddy," she said.

"Look, Muddy would crown me if he saw my Muddy," he said.

"Yeah. He'd crown you with a baseball bat."

"Whatever."

He picked up his invisible guitar and positioned it on his knee. A breeze swooped down from the blue sky, the Blue Sky Mistress, riding a long sky-slide that sent her rustling through the high trees, and down to the angular grasses, over the land, and right to Rocket's cheek, where she lay a cool, blue sky kiss. Then, just as quickly, she swooped up again, back to her blue sky throne, at 60 thousand feet.

Rocket said, "I got one. I call this one 'Sky Blue Blues.' Ready?" He shut his eyes, raised his invisible guitar, and crawled his fingers across the invisible strings. "Ba da da da DA! I gotta kiss from the Blue Sky girl. Ba da da da DA!"

Jeena was silent. Rocket opened his eyes. "Jeena, come on. Do the bass line."

"I want to be Muddy."

"Fine." Rocket tossed her the invisible guitar. Jeena handed him the invisible bass.

There they were, sitting in the cool, after the rain, puddles of mud around them, sunlight alighting each one, making them silvery dots in the woods. They could hear the brook gurgling and gargling over the smooth rocks. Jimmy Jones-Johnson had fallen into those rocks just last month and broke his big nose. He was 17, just a year older than Jeena and Rocket, and he finally had a major injury. Jeena had broken her leg in 3rd grade and Rocket got shot last year. They were wondering when Jimmy Jones-Johnson would get his major injury. When Jimmy Jones-Johnson finally got his injury, Rocket wrote a song about it and called it the "The Broken Big Nose Blues" and it pissed off Jimmy Jones-Johnson partly because of the title and partly because of the line in it that said: "Jimmy Jones-Johnson broke his nose so well that he now won't know just how bad he smells."

That gave Jeena an idea.

"I got one," she said to Rocket's pouting, long, dark face. "I'll call it 'Rocket's Smelly Underarm Blues.'"

He sniffed his underarms. "Woo."

"I can smell them from here," she said.

"But, if you really want to write a real song, you have to smell them up close. Feel the pain!"

He jumped at her. He was too fast for her and he pulled her down, fell on her, and raised his underarms to her face.

He nearly had her pinned, but she arched her face to him, kissed his big lips, and then blew on them as if they were a balloon.

He rolled off her, laughing. She lay down hard on his chest and kissed him again. He drummed his fingers on her back, playing her like a guitar. She hummed the bass deep in her throat and the Blue Sky Mistress swooped some wind down on them. They kissed and kissed and rolled in the mud and, for a good long minute, the world rolled in the mud right along with them.

(New alternate ending:

After a moment, Jeena pulled away from his lips.

"And, guess what?" she said.

"What?"

"Now, we're both muddy."

)
Elliot, 12:17 AM

5 Back at me:

Beautiful.

You bend down
to feel the muddy earth
because
that's your secret way
to touch the sky

Reminds me of a line in a U2 song: "If you wanna kiss the sky you better learn how to kneel"
Blogger Turtle Guy, at 7:12 AM  
I did this as a child, with a stick, poking in the puddles at the reflection of the clouds. Wow, that memory takes me back! Now I need a nap and an ice cream!
Blogger Mona Buonanotte, at 10:19 AM  
I like Muddy Mudskipper....
Blogger ipodmomma, at 1:47 PM  
Sigh... I so enjoy your writing.
Blogger Sarah Elaine, at 9:01 PM  
TG: Thanks. I actually wrote U2's hit songs "New Year's Day" and "With or Without You." Okay, fine, not really.

Mona: Here's your "Nap and Ice Cream" Pass. Use it wisely.

iPod: Well, he IS the hero of millions...

S: I'm glad. If I can connect with just one person, then my work is done here. And, by the way, you run an impressive and inspirational blog yourself.
Blogger Elliot, at 12:12 PM  

Say sump-tun