NIGHT'S DISTILLATE (photo) & THE SEARCH FOR AN ALEMBIC (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

THE SEARCH FOR AN ALEMBIC

no, the point isn’t to get rid of her emotion
riddled, constantly morphing memories, no,
not at all; but rather to find an alembic large
and strong enough to bear their sticky
overblown weight, and once heat is applied,
watch the body charged emotions sink
heavily to its bottom half, while at the top
the misty shapes of memories float, as free
and clear as any distilled aromatic essence,
no longer freighted with the husks and
skeletons, nails, planks, and bricks forced
upon them at their very conception; the thing
then? don’t expose those fragile, clarified,
and easily manipulated memories to the
emotional body’s pummeling ravages
but bottle them safely away, like rare
essences on a perfumer’s closet shelves,
to which her rational mind
holds the only key


[non-dream free verse poem, being distilled for a couple weeks. I’ve kept editing this one, hoping I’d finally get it into presentable form. Many times, I’d then go to post it and see something else I really wanted to change or add or delete. And I’d be off on another heavy edit. Today I’ve reached the end of the line (or as far as the aromatic line of this piece I’ve been trailing after seems to be able to reach) and I’m posting it. But it still feels undone. Well, it’s not unusual that I’ve edited poems of mine that were many years old. So, maybe after it’s set here for a good length of time the inspiration will hit for the right edits, and I’ll wind up a bit more comfortable with it after fussing at it again. BTW, here’s a pic from Wikipedia of an alembic of a type similar to the kind I was seeing my mind while working on this poem.

Oh, I forgot to also mention that the initial inspiration for this poem came from a fascinating and strange old book I’m reading and have not yet finished: “Perfume,” by Patrick Suskind. Where I’m at in the story, the protagonist is now experimenting with consolidation (of a sort), as opposed to distillation (separating).

Photo “Night’s Distillate” (Screenshots-many, 2-4-19[5]) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant or contrasting aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

* * * *

until next time, keep dreaming,





[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.