Black icing squeezed from
a golden, paper cone stains
swirling lines and dots
on my pale forearm.
and the lacy tracery
is just a rusty rash.
Three weeks, and my skin
has amnesia.
15-24 August 2008
This is the other one I've struggled with. I'm still not really happy with it. I felt the mehndi was a very strong metaphor for love/relationships, when a friend commented that my mehdi looked like a rash, after about 2 weeks. I felt it was interesting how something that always starts so beautiful, changes to something ugly or diseased, and finally, disappears altogether... I had a verse about decoration, disease and disappearance (note the alliteration!) being three staging posts on the road of love, but have dropped it, cos it felt far too laboured. Also, can I safely assume everyone knows what a mehndi is, or do I have to put in "henna tattoo" somewhere?!
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