Saturday, June 30, 2012

Raining Buttons



I am walking as the buttons
begin to rain, bouncing
on pavement, deafening
rat-a-tat-tat, a hailstorm
of buttons large and small
plain and ornate, colored
and white, lost buttons,
extra buttons, plastic and
wooden buttons, cork and
gemstone buttons, stone
buttons ripping through
my umbrella, a trickle and
torrent of buttons streaming
down my face,
light button-drops and
hard heavy buttons
as large as a baseball
tearing at my skin, I 
bleed buttons as I wonder
how it all came
unbuttoned.

“Buttons” is the prompt today over at dVerse Poets. Check the site to see what host Brian Miller has buttoned up – and what the rest of us are trying to unbutton.

Photograph: Raining Buttons, from an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City, via Ephemeral Visions.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw a button
On the floor
Lost it seemed
Riding on the elevator
Down and up

Anonymous said...

heh-heh,mwhat a fab read - how innovative a spin on the button theme :)

Valerie Kamikubo said...

I really like this, Glynn. It gives one pause to think of the things that undo us.

S. Etole said...

Reminded me of my grandmother's button jar when we were allowed to spill out the contents.

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Glynn, I've been having a bout recently with feeling "unbuttoned", and this was the perfect image for me to see that God will button me up and buckle me in, no matter what. Beautifully crafted poem!
Blessings to you!

Brian Miller said...

oh very nice....love the twist in the end...and was wondering where you were going...smiles...and how we get it back in the buttonhole? smiles.

Anonymous said...

Aha, the ending is the gives us the key to this surreal, charming event. It's a lovely piece of absurdity, where the crazy things that happen to us can dance and find joy in the insanity of life. What else does it all coming unbuttoned mean, anyway, but this? Very fun to read.

diana said...

wish there was a 'like' button on this blog, cuz I'd be hittin' it. thanks.

Claudia said...

we had a few hailstorms over here lately..no buttons though..and once life, politics, whatever gets unbuttoned, who's able to stop it..

Anonymous said...

A surprising and brilliant ending! I like it!

Anonymous said...

Like Claudia, I've been sitting out hailstorms lately and almost wrote about one because the hail in it was large and flat, like quarters or buttons. I would have been hard pressed to come up with something as innovative as yours for it. Still working on that piece, though, and it may mention a button or two...