Saturday, January 7, 2012

The Kisses

Standing on a sanded section of time
I noticed a miracle
There, in the distance,
was a swirling dance of air
Particles blustering in syncopated rhyme
Twisting, turning
and then she appeared to me
Angelic with her sand-painted skin

Stuttering inside I watched her approach
I looked to each side but I was
alone

She spoke a tongue I knew a bit
enough to converse, but still read lips
closely,

I think she knew, as the American in me
probably was screaming loud.  And I think she slowed down,
just enough, perhaps altering the normalcy of her sound

My wares were there to browse
Mainly goods for wear

and then
to the orange plaid patterned shawl
she looked at me

eyes flittered about
careful blinks between the grit in air

dangling gently from her arm
so pure, so perfect

The tag twisted in the indecisive wind

and she said, diaz besos

I thought, a barterer, haven't seen one of them in quite some time,

normally, normally I would have shook my head, nunca, nunca, perhaps I would have said

but 10 kisses from a beauty as such, was too hard to pass upon, was too much to say nunca too

And so I nodded in approval

and as she leaned in,
I closed my eyes, hands wide open
to hold her near

It was then, the 10 coins appeared.

Anyhow, long story to make a simple point.

Over at Pat's, he had a contest post, too which, in reply I made one of my usual corny jokes.  But that reply got me thinking about language, and how easily the mind can twist words that sound similar to how one wants to hear them.  In this piece, the native speaker altered her normal pronunciation, assuming the foreigner needed assistance in understanding her, but this, combined with the foreigners infatuation, misheard her all the more.  Anyhow, just thought I'd play around with this idea of miscommunication and how attitudes, emotions and/or stereotypes can alter perception.

5 comments:

  1. oh it can def alter perception...and infatuation for sure...i can imagine the disappointment too...lol...when you opened your eyes...magical write to get us there too...

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  2. i really like this fred...a lot.. so many things influence how we understand someone, even if both speak the same language...great poem, great story..love the magic in this..

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  3. Interesting insight on the phenomenon. It does happen. Nice details in this one.

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  4. haha the cat can inspire lighting your muse's fire. Things must be getting dire for that bird on a wire. Yeah that cat ate him because he sounded dim. He said one thing and meant something else as well. Things truly went to hell and all because of one little word. He ended up flipping me the bird. LOL so fun to read how one little thing can change the meaning and create a whole new screening.

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