poem inspired by yellow ledbetter
aerolls
Posts: 2
yellow bedwetter
In the evening, waking
up in a voice like letters
torn, silently he fears
the forsaking of
his future hanging from
the opened window
pane; a breeze carries
his unmistakable stained
scent. Trying to
stand he stumbles from
chord like welts stinging
under his thighs a reminder
of how not to humiliate
their honor with his
nighttime art, yellow
abstract water colored
on white sheets his
midnight canvas flying
outside his window
for everyone to see
with laughing eyes
will he ever learn?
reaching out with
worried hands he
notices a crowd
gathering below
he props up on the
ledge, ties the sheet
around his neck
like a cape with
arms stretched he
leaps towards the
open sky.
in the morning,
his silhouette descends
proudly like a voice
of letters;
louder the neighbors
scream— “This son’s
gone away.
A.E.C.
2007
This poem was inspired by the first time I ever heard "yellow ledbetter." I originally wrote a draft during my undergrad years as in English major at UTSA. I woke up yesterday smiling and in a good mood singing the lyrics to the re-recorded version of "even flow." I wanted to hear some pearl jam so I put on my favorite song " yellow ledbetter."
After hearing the song, for the first time in ages it reminded of that poem that I once wrote and have misplaced from all the many times I have moved. So I tried to re-write it again.
I was always kinda dyslexic and when I first saw the title of this song it read to me "yellow bedwetter." I had this image from my youth, watching this tv movie where this young boy comes home and sees that his father has hung up with wet stained bed sheets outside his window for all the neighbors to see, to teach him a "lesson." This is the image that has been engraved in my head. this is what my poem is about.
In the evening, waking
up in a voice like letters
torn, silently he fears
the forsaking of
his future hanging from
the opened window
pane; a breeze carries
his unmistakable stained
scent. Trying to
stand he stumbles from
chord like welts stinging
under his thighs a reminder
of how not to humiliate
their honor with his
nighttime art, yellow
abstract water colored
on white sheets his
midnight canvas flying
outside his window
for everyone to see
with laughing eyes
will he ever learn?
reaching out with
worried hands he
notices a crowd
gathering below
he props up on the
ledge, ties the sheet
around his neck
like a cape with
arms stretched he
leaps towards the
open sky.
in the morning,
his silhouette descends
proudly like a voice
of letters;
louder the neighbors
scream— “This son’s
gone away.
A.E.C.
2007
This poem was inspired by the first time I ever heard "yellow ledbetter." I originally wrote a draft during my undergrad years as in English major at UTSA. I woke up yesterday smiling and in a good mood singing the lyrics to the re-recorded version of "even flow." I wanted to hear some pearl jam so I put on my favorite song " yellow ledbetter."
After hearing the song, for the first time in ages it reminded of that poem that I once wrote and have misplaced from all the many times I have moved. So I tried to re-write it again.
I was always kinda dyslexic and when I first saw the title of this song it read to me "yellow bedwetter." I had this image from my youth, watching this tv movie where this young boy comes home and sees that his father has hung up with wet stained bed sheets outside his window for all the neighbors to see, to teach him a "lesson." This is the image that has been engraved in my head. this is what my poem is about.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Didn't Michael Landow's mother used to do that to him with the sheets? The guy from Little House on the Prairie?
-Enoch Powell
First time i heard Yellow Ledbetter, it did make me cry. #X.
-Paul Verlaine-
"With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion."
-Edgar Poe-