Life’s Silk Curtain Drops

Posted by Brad Osborne on October 4, 2019 · 7 Comments 

I recently had the opportunity to collaborate with someone most of my readers already know, Mathew, from Blog of the Wolf Boy. We have written a contrapuntal poem together, the style of which was covered in yesterday’s ‘Whittled Words’ series.

 

The Silk Curtain Drops
(The Wolf Boy’s Poem)

The silk curtain gently drops
The ticking of the clock stops
The last glass of fresh water
Last breath before the slaughter
A fading smile from a loved child
A million memories run wild
All consuming lack of everything
All-knowing void of anything
Recycle ingredients, soul by soul
Life departs, yet, finally whole

 

Life
(Brad’s Poem)

The first breath of air at birth
An intrinsic and fragile worth
With days that have some number
Yet no fear of eternal slumber
We live away our precious day
For life in us will surely stay
An ever present, loving friend
We cannot contemplate an end
Revel in existence and in light
Forego your fears of impending night

 

Life’s Silk Curtain Drops
(The Wolf Boy + Brad Contrapuntal Poem)

The silk curtain gently drops
The first breath of air at birth
The ticking of the clock stops
An intrinsic and fragile worth
The last glass of fresh water
With days that have some number
Last breath before the slaughter
Yet no fear of eternal slumber
A fading smile from a loved child
We live away our precious day
A million memories run wild
For life in us will surely stay
All consuming lack of everything
An ever present, loving friend
All-knowing void of anything
We cannot contemplate an end
Recycle ingredients, soul by soul
Revel in existence and in light
Life departs, yet, finally whole
Forego your fears of impending night

 

For a self-proclaimed wordsmith, it is hard to find the words to thank Mathew for joining me on this venture. He was eager to the idea, gracious in his communications, and was the one to suggest the counterpoint of life and death in the individual original poems. He made the process fun and exciting. Within a few days of emails and with but the slightest of edits, we were there.

I suggested this type of poem to Wolfie as a way to collaborate and sent him what I hoped was a poem that was bright with love of life. He masterfully crafted a dark poem dripping with death. When combined I feel like the lines become all a shade of gray and it is hard to tell exactly which poem a specific line comes from.

This has been extremely fun for me and I would have to be honest and say that it is likely because I think we really made great poetry together.

My forever thanks to Mathew and I look forward to what may lie ahead!

Filed under Poetry · Tagged with co-writing, collaboration, combined verse, contrapuntal, counterpoint, dark vs light, dual poems, intertwined, mash-up poetry, perception, poem, Poetry, twin poems, Wolf Boy