we are
cannibal ash left-behinds
fading static on lost frequencies
doppelgängers of used-to-be
we are
hardscrabble nights
shattered shot glasses
dried up shimmies
curdled bits of blood
we are
idle spit dried to salt
on steamy blacktop
withered illusions
screwed up tattoos
we are
struggling steel in a hot metal world
It’s Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub. My poem was published in Eunoia Review in 2018 and is a nod to Janis Joplin. Please click over and enjoy the poetry in the pub!
Charlotte Hamrick 
Especially “doppelgängers of used-to-be”. (K)
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😊
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I like the idea of you and Janis as besties. Such a creative inventory of life’s flotsam.
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Ah…this is a voice I like, with suitable edge…makes me want to play all those great songs..
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E7 to A7 to B7 and back though by then there isn’t anything left but ashes and empties and bleary morning light (and o yes, “withered illusions / screwed up tattoos”). But what a ride if only for the riding, even here yet and still in the verses.
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Love this especially; “we are idle spit dried to salt on steamy blacktop withered illusions
screwed up tattoos.” 😀
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Oh, this could stand alone on just the 1st stanza, but I’m glad you didn’t let THAT happen. Awesome. Thanks.
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“fading static on lost frequencies”
I can imagine that as the last thoughts rolling through her mind.
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grrrr….my reply just disappeared! Will try again.
I may have gone a different way with my reading of this….but in my opinion that’s the mark of good writing when a reader makes a leap from it and connects to it.
“withered illusions
screwed up tattoos”
To me, this is about some has-beens…burned out from the 60s….still hanging out but out of touch.
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yes, i can feel this poem. really like that ending, perfect ending
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Maybe there is a reason why Janis left this world when she did…
Or as Neil Young wrote (and later regretted when it was found in Kurt Cobain’s suicide note)
“It’s better to burn out than to fade away”
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Wonderful, Charlotte! I love “doppelgängers of used-to-be”
(I’m not sure why this in the quadrille linky.)
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Thanks! I thought I deleted the Mr. Linky to this from the quadrille prompt. It auto filled & posted before I knew what happened.
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It’s fine. 😀
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This is excellent! Bonus: That photo!
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