Archive | January, 2024

Praying Like An Artist

17 Jan

by Terry Rachel

Oh, Lord, “I sent up my prayer, wondering where it had to go…” Joni Mitchell’s Same Situation.

Let me find a new partner who’s classy, and knows books, and knows how to order at a fine dining restaurant. She has an appreciation for the Theater, and knows the playwright Lillian Hellman, and, at least, knows Hemmingway’s short piece “Hills Like White Elephants.” She has thoughts of Baudelaire because of his poems of lesbianism.  She may also wonder why van Gogh cut off his ear. What was going through his mind? Did he lose his mind? I don’t know. Maybe she could tell me. Would she also somehow know that when Leonard Cohen sang “…and she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China” he was talking about Suzanne (a woman he had met)?  Could she laugh, and let out a deep, guttural belly snort? She’s gotta’ be beautiful inside and out.

Lesbos, where the kisses are like cascades
That throw themselves boldly into bottomless chasms
And flow, sobbing and gurgling intermittently,
Stormy and secret, teeming and profound;
Lesbos, where the kisses are like cascades!

Charles Baudelaire’s Fleurs du mal / Flowers of Evil

Until then, I will dwell in my thoughts of the woman who will come to me in my mind’s design. Yes. I’m a poet, a lover, and a romantic fool. Thank you, Lord, for every quality.

First Draft – January 17, 2024 – copyright – Terry Rachel