Cornered
What tune do the shadows hum
when sun’s rays coquette and tickle
the floor below a corner-table tryst?
Do they conspire with art-filled
walls to boast of rainbowed love,
or impishly intone lonely adagios
of unrequited passion and storms
approaching? That shadows sing
I do not doubt. Unless, of course,
they’ve bamboozled me, too.
* inspired by Jacqueline Osborn’s Table in the Corner (https://arthur.io/art/jacqueline-osborn/table-in-the-corner)
9 thoughts on "Cornered"
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I love coquette as a verb! Nice ekphrastic piece!
I’ve read the first stanza six times now. So good. Great combination of word, sound, and imagery.
Well-crafted imagery in this gem!
Especially love:
sun’s rays coquette and tickle
the floor below a corner-table tryst?
Adore the questions and the answer:
That shadows sing
I do not doubt. Unless, of course,
they’ve bamboozled me, too.
Love that first stanza as well as your ending.
Love this, Nancy!
Love that opening stanza–the idea of shadows “tickling” the floor & the use of “coquette” as a verb–wonderful! And those last three lines are great. My favorite line is “That shadows sing I do not doubt.”
You’ve marshalled some great verbs here! Like the others, I love what you did with “coquette”!
Such an imaginative topic and precise word choices!
There are so many lovely, image-rich phrases in this poem! My favorites are “impishly intone lonely adagios” and “sun’s rays coquette and tickle/the floor below a corner-table tryst.”