Wednesday, October 21, 2020

BONES OF CONTENTION

 Weekly Scribblings #42, and we’re challenged to use one or all of the given lines, or write a poem inspired by all.  "fingers framed by light

                            clutching an old rosary

                            carved from human bone"

Submitted to Poets & Storytellers United

October 21, 2020

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BONES OF CONTENTION

Hail Mary, full of grace,

whose bones are these

on which we count our

prayers.  


Perhaps a saint

who wished to hear

the prayers over and over

again, the sacred ritual

comforting us in our sorrows

and the saint in infinity. 


Perhaps a warrior felled in

some religious battle, now

wandering in perdition searching

for his fingers.


11 comments:

  1. Ahhh. Giving up yer digits for The Wrong Deity, eh? Nothin'll getcha into Hell any quicker. Nice work, Beverly.

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  2. On one side, offerings from a soul that wished to be of service even after death; on the other side, the unwillingly given sacrifice of a soul in purgatory. That should give the one praying more than a little pause, I think—having bones from the first seems like an honor, but having bones from the other... who knows.

    I really like that your poem opens the door into an even bigger story.

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  3. Just how much of us can we take with us? The prompt certainly has made us wonder about a lot.

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  4. I love the title, Bev, and the way question of the opening stanza takes us on a journey.

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  5. Nicely done – leading so gently to the double-take and sudden, shiocked laughter aroused by your last line.

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  6. I could not help from visualizing brave heroic men in combat clutching rosaries as they died from their wounds .... wars from time immemorial.

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  7. I echo Helen above. I also love the subtle humor of "searching for his fingers" :)

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  8. I can see clearly the warrior looking for his fingers, now carved into rosary beads. Startling image, but I like it!

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  9. Wow, I like where you took this prompt!

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  10. I love this message to spare a prayer for both saint and soldier, who sacrifice and protect in their own ways.

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