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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Atticus on October 4, 2004, at 22:01:07
Got Eyes Like Leeches
Got eyes like leeches
Fed on black ink,
They suck you dry,
They make you think,
Just know they thirst
For one more drink
Of sharp dark thoughts
From abyss brink,
Her razor gaze
Don’t seem to blink,
Wet gouge of smile,
A spine that slinks
Like steel spring coils,
Like unwinked winks,
Seeks drowning clowns
To watch them sink,
Smirks at ripples
That shrink to kinks
In dead-sea rugs,
Mask gray meat’s stink,
Pub’s barman cleans,
Drained glasses clink,
Her wine’s untouched,
Tossed in the sink,
As she heads out
Cheeks flushed and pink,
Bar abattoir’s
Sleek vengeful sphinx.
-- Atticus
Posted by saw on October 5, 2004, at 1:56:07
In reply to poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches, posted by Atticus on October 4, 2004, at 22:01:07
Atticus, I think (or feel) this is telling me something about my alcoholism. I am not sure what though. I am feeling something from this but I am brand new at reading poetry and might have an interpretation that you did not intend at all.
This poem is really telling me something, I feel weird that I don't know what it is.
Sabrina
Posted by Jai Narayan on October 5, 2004, at 10:32:14
In reply to poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches, posted by Atticus on October 4, 2004, at 22:01:07
Okay this sounds like a hard poem. Atticus are you okay? Was this a weekend experience?
Your dark poems are just as powerful as the more up beat ones. I find them to be more painful to read.
Thinking of you on my least favorite day of the week Tuesday. I hate Tuesday. But being home from work is a definate plus. My ankle is coming along. The swelling is down and the black and blue is a chocolate color now.
thanks for asking.
Ta Jai
Posted by Atticus on October 5, 2004, at 11:03:43
In reply to Re: poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches » Atticus, posted by saw on October 5, 2004, at 1:56:07
Actually, the woman in the poem drinks in human misery through her eyes, not alcohol through her mouth. But she goes to pubs because that's where a lot of lost souls go to self-medicate and ease their pain. She feeds like a psychic vampire on the pain of others. The last lines imply that at some point in her past, some man did her wrong, so now she goes into smoky dives, basks in their broken lives, then leaves, sated. If you were in the poem, as an alcoholic (which I've been myself, mixing benzos and booze with near-lethal abandon), you'd be one of those people she took sadistic pleasure in watching "drown" in their own damaged psyches. Atticus
Posted by Atticus on October 5, 2004, at 11:17:42
In reply to Re: poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches, posted by Jai Narayan on October 5, 2004, at 10:32:14
Hi Jai,
I'm fine. This little bit of musing is based on a woman I observed in a bar on Saturday. She just seemed (to me) to be looking at the broken spirits, the human flotsam and jetsam, washed up on the bar, stinking of gin. Never touched her wine. Never spoke to anyone. But her eyes were striking, like the equivalent of a vampire's fangs. So this is what I spun out of that. Sometimes I wonder if people who are not regular Babblers (or at least active participants) come to this site to do a little of the same thing. So this was a metaphor for that, too -- the kind of people who slow down for a dreadful car wreck and don't think, "How tragic," but rather, "Wow, glad that wasn't me. My life is bad, but that person's is worse. That makes me feel better about all the rotten things that have come my way." The Germans have an excellent word for it, "schadenfreude," which roughly translates as "taking a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others." Ta. ;) Atticus
Posted by saw on October 6, 2004, at 1:06:45
In reply to Re: poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches » saw, posted by Atticus on October 5, 2004, at 11:03:43
Mmmm, I think I am taking sadistic pleasure at watching *myself* drown in my own damaged psyche.
Thank you for interpreting for me. I really liked mood and feel of this poem.Sabrina
Posted by Atticus on October 6, 2004, at 11:44:04
In reply to Re: poem ... Got Eyes Like Leeches » Atticus, posted by saw on October 6, 2004, at 1:06:45
Thanks, Sabrina. I tried to keep it short, fast and punchy -- only four syllables per line -- to set up the quietly aggressive mood for the piece, a sense of moving fast even if you're standing still at a bar. I remember watching myself "drown" and thinking that somehow I had it coming all too well. Good luck! ;) Atticus
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