Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Poem: "The Key to My Heart Is Upside Down"

This poem came out of the February 2009 Poetry Fishbowl, inspired by this painting by flutterbychild. It was sponsored by an extra general donation.

The Key to My Heart Is Upside Down
– a quatern


The key to my heart is upside down.
Each candle stands for a love or friend.
They are not large, and have no renown.
I burn my candles at just one end.

This candle is red, and these ones blue.
The key to my heart is upside down.
Our lives are colored by me and you.
My soul is pink and my skin is brown.

My mind is a village, not a town.
I live for the faces that I know.
The key to my heart is upside down.
It shines like a flame through winter snow.

The world don’t know what to make of me.
What do I care for gold, or a crown?
I love without locks, and I am free.
The key to my heart is upside down.
Tags: cyberfunded creativity, fishbowl, poem, poetry, romance, writing
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  • 6 comments
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ysabetwordsmith

*bow, flourish*

ysabetwordsmith

February 15 2009, 15:45:22 UTC 12 years ago

I'm happy that it worked for you.

This poem is very allegorical. It talks about a very complex topic, love, by speaking about different parts of it in different places and ways, without connecting all of them too tightly. The rhyme and repetition hold the poem together.
eniastoa

Re: *bow, flourish*

eniastoa

February 20 2009, 01:52:55 UTC 12 years ago

I had a similar experience ... I grasped what you just said about your poem, and I, too, got a sense of unconstrained embrace from it, but the title phrase just doesn't parse to anything meaningful for me.

I thought of this again today when I saw boozymatic guffawing to a particular image and caption at http://rolcats.com/ -- Eastern-Bloc lolcats translated into English, apparently -- which I could see might be funny, but didn't connect meaningfully enough for me properly get the joke.

This is no criticism of your poem, btw, nor a request for an explanation of the phrase, just an acknowlegement that I can't "get" everything that I think I ought to be able to.