Rend Asunder

lillian

Simmering . . .
daze on end.
Days and weeks
on the back burner.
Simmering . . .

Until what?
Fingers drumming.
Unanswered calls.
Bubble bursts.
Boils over.

Hot blooded,
she explodes.
One – quick – STAB.
His blood flows
till warm no more.

Days later he lies
beyond the pale.
Forever stilled
beneath the earth,
cold to touch.

As is her soul.

I’m hosting dVerse today, the virtual pub for poets. Prompt today is to somehow involve the idea of “temperature” within your poem – in any of its diverse meanings or uses. The word itself does not need to be in the poem….but we must be able to tell how “temperature” is related to your poem. IE — to take one’s temperature, red-hot with anger;  temperature of a nation, being in hot water, passion, etc.  Prompt goes live at 3 PM Boston time. Come join us!
And apologies to my readers today….I’ve gone over to the dark side with this post. Photo from Pixabay.com

51 thoughts on “Rend Asunder”

  1. whippetwisdom July 30, 2019 / 1:08 pm

    I’m glad I’m reading this early and not last thing at night Lillian! Time permitting I’ll join you later on the trail xxx

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 3:12 pm

      Yes I definitely went over to the dark side on this one. Such a reverse from my freckles ditty! Sometimes I don’t know where the words come from!!! Do hope to see you on the trail today. Would love to see what you do with the idea of temperatures 🙂

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  2. kim881 July 30, 2019 / 3:13 pm

    I like the way you developed the shift from simmering to cold, Lill, especially the repetition of ‘simmering, the play on daze/days, and the fingers drumming before the situation boiled over. Where did you find that wonderful illustration?

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 4:01 pm

      Illustration is from pixabay.com under “angry woman” — it’s a great place to get free images,with a great search mechanism. Glad you enjoyed this one.

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 4:01 pm

      Started thinking about boiling tempers….and out came this … sadly from a similar case I read about.

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      • Jane Dougherty July 30, 2019 / 4:12 pm

        I thought it was fiction! Life is often stranger though.

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  4. kanzensakura July 30, 2019 / 3:34 pm

    Yeppers. You most def went to the dark side on this one. It is rare for your usual bright and sunny self but I like lit. The movement from boiling hot to dead cold is chilling.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 4:02 pm

      Thanks, Toni. Especially for the last line in your reply…you definitely got it! 🙂

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 4:03 pm

      Thanks. Yes….she’s in a daze with her anger simmering over days and days. Glad you liked the play on words.

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 5:28 pm

      Sometimes, my pen goes to the darker side. But truly, I am a happy person…much more like my freckledee doobie poem yesterday 🙂

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  7. sarahsouthwest July 30, 2019 / 4:23 pm

    Great last line – the switch from hot anger to cold soul – and such a lingering image.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 5:29 pm

      Thanks, Sarah. It’s been fun to see all the different takes on the prompt…and quite a few carry through a change in termperatures from the beginning of the poem to the end. I’ve really enjoyed reading them. Glad you like this one!

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 5:30 pm

      Yes…..a very violent end to that simmering anger that could be contained no longer and erupted.

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  10. robtkistner July 30, 2019 / 6:40 pm

    WOW, Lillian, powerful write! A bit unnerving, but engages one to read — excellent!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 31, 2019 / 9:32 am

      Yep — I do believe the case was unnerving to many.

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  11. robtkistner July 30, 2019 / 6:42 pm

    Could I ask you please to try the link again to my site from Mr. Linky. It works fine when I do it?

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    • lillian July 30, 2019 / 6:46 pm

      Wow….well go figure! works now just fine. Maybe my internet connection was going in and out? Will get over to read in a sec! 😊🎉

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  12. Frank Hubeny July 30, 2019 / 7:17 pm

    I like the contrast you set up with the heat of anger leading to the coldness of death.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 31, 2019 / 9:34 am

      Thank you…..sometimes my words surprise me because I really am a Pollyanna kind of gal! 🙂

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  16. Nitin July 30, 2019 / 9:59 pm

    Yikes. This is quite a dark poem. I loved the bringing together of gore and temperature

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 31, 2019 / 9:36 am

      Thank you!
      And I really appreciated your post to the prompt. Sadly, I could not fiture out how to respond to it on your site, other than to create an account that I felt insecure doing.
      Might I also ask that you add a dVerse tag to your post….or statement that indicates the ” prompt is from dVerse at http://dversepoets.com, the virtual pub for poets. This will bring more folks to our site and thus more readers to your posts too. Hope to see you often at dVerse!

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  17. Reena Saxena July 31, 2019 / 12:26 am

    ‘Simmering’ is the underlying feeling behind crime, though the word often used is ‘cold-blooded’. What makes a person reach that stage remains inconclusive – else we could have worked on crime prevention rather than punishment.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • lillian July 31, 2019 / 9:38 am

      You’re so right. Had not thought of those words “cold blooded” but they are indeed often attached to the reporting or writing of a particularly violent crime. Good point!

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    • lillian July 31, 2019 / 9:38 am

      Yeah…..and I am usually such a pollyanna! Sometimes where my head goes and the pen writes surprises me!

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      • calmkate July 31, 2019 / 4:24 pm

        lol we each have both sides, good to release it occasionally 🙂

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  20. Brendan July 31, 2019 / 12:41 pm

    The leap from hot to cold goes (gores?) right through the heart. Well done.

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    • lillian August 1, 2019 / 9:54 am

      Great play on words in your reply, given the result of her boiled over anger. Glad you enjoyed! Well…maybe “enjoy” is not the right word for the dark side????

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    • lillian August 1, 2019 / 9:55 am

      Thanks, Mary. Pent up anger definitely can ramp up the heat if not dissipated before the boiling point.

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  22. kaykuala h August 1, 2019 / 10:13 am

    beneath the earth,
    cold to touch.

    Seemingly led through testing times, dark times to say the least. Buried and dead to touch.

    Hank

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  23. rosross August 2, 2019 / 1:56 am

    The symbolism and imagery walk hand in hand with this. Powerfully done.

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