Before His Obsession with Knots

Posted bymarialbergPosted inPhotography, poetry, promptsTags:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today is open link night at dVerse Poets Pub, so I thought I would finish the poem I started for last week’s poetics prompt (Jan. 23): to write a prequel poem.

A light-forming photograph of the cartoon villain Snidely Whiplash made with a light and a hand cut paper filter.
A Mustache for Twirling by Maria L. Berg 2024

He’s Very Skilled at Knots

He was a happy boy until a train took his mother
His father in grief became distant but harsh
causing he and his father to clash nightly
and his eyes that had shown brightly
turned unsightly like smoldering ash

Neglected, he spent his days
roaming idly along the tracks
collecting rope and practicing knots
wishing his mother would come back
and yearning for someone, anyone
to love him

Until one day he happened upon
a shiny, new top hat and a tied up
young woman across his way
and in horror thought of his mother
when he heard the whistle
of an approaching train

He ran to the woman who screeched rather highly
while he tried to untie the ropes tied so tightly
while apologizing for his fingers politely
as she cursed him quite unkindly
and at the last second

he was shoved aside
by another do-gooder come to her aid
who was able to save her
and as he slinked off in shame
barely missed by the barreling train,
a piece of metal flew from the tracks
and gashed poor sad Snidely right in the lip

holding his torn lip together and bleeding
he couldn’t say anything when
the people who gathered
began to accuse him
and made him the villain
though he had only tried to help.

His lip didn’t heal well, leaving
him disfigured, so he grew a mustache
which he would tug and twist
whenever that day replayed
the last time he tried to get in the way
of a train, and now whenever he sees someone pretty
someone who could reject him and make him unloved
he preempts the pain and the oncoming shame
by placing her in the way of a train.

Colorful repetition of a hand-cut paper filter of the character Snidely Whiplash.
Mwa ha ha by Maria L. Berg 2024

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Published by marialberg

I am an artist—abstract photographer, fiction writer, and poet—who loves to learn. Experience Writing is where I share my adventures and experiments. Time is precious, and I appreciate that you spend some of your time here, reading and learning along with me. I set up a buy me a coffee account, https://buymeacoffee.com/mariabergw (please copy and paste in your browser) so you can buy me a beverage to support what I do here. It will help a lot.

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