Poem: Windows scare me. "they h-h-h-hover and rub their pantyhose wings"

 


from the site: http://oudmusic.wordpress.com/

 "Windows scare me." qualifies as an excerpt. It's from my novel {unpublished and looking} The To-Do List Manifesto.  I dedicated the poem to the heroine, Sandy Rees, and one of the oddfellow seekers in the book, Wm. Budd Philbertson, when I included it in my poetry collection, The Future Is Happy.

In the novel it's written by Wm. Budd's neighbor, Bitsey O'Shannessey. This poem is a bit of an oddity, a nightmare, appropriate to character and novel, and for that I like it.

Windows scare me.

{by Bitsey O'Shannessey}

for Sandy Rees and Wm. Budd Philbertson

i.
no curtains!
who watches?
what will it take to lift me carry me
to the ship?
I’m alone & hid.
they will cop whatever they want, those forces.
my toys; my panties.
aliens laughing. ha ha!
stretch that mask, Mr. Martian, it fits my face perfect.
ii.
ratty wool blanket covers window this week, parents dead.
I am shielded from their Keene saucer eyes.
half a chipped China face snaps off.
they watch me on the couch
eating and sleeping
and watching them on TV. so many movies,
they are out there. they h-h-h-hover
and rub their pantyhose wings
so a fine crackle pops
the window like a run.

iii.
dang, they’re here.
brown wool blanket scratches curtain rod
as I grab it. Jesus H., they’re hauling me to the ship
parked by the snow peas and basil; they’re bony,
translucent; got bodies, heed physics, like me.

iv.
three-foot fingers squeeze my chest. “Ouch!”
the vaginal inspection a reminder:
a doc at County General bunched my white gown
and ripped
to examine an upper arm bruise.
this here inspection is as pacific
as a small stroke.
I hear an oud, do a belly dance,
hum wildly like I’m feverish
and happy.
minions of the planet from afar
wheel me to the door, saturate my cells
with light. and then,

v.
but my folks still dead. still hid.
the windows have changed their color
from night to day. I paint friendly people
like snowflake stencils on the panes.

______
Sarah Sarai; included in The Future Is Happy, BlazeVOX [books], 2009, available at Amazon and Small Press Distribution.

And for more information on The To-Do List Manifesto, click on the title.

Picture link: http://oudmusic.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/oud2.jpg
or to learn more in general about the oud, a very cool instrument, exotic if you're not a world music person:  http://oudmusic.files.wordpress.com/