Poem: "ssessu": ysabetwordsmith

Poem: "ssessu"

This poem was prompted and sponsored by

minor_architect. It's all about what a former shifter misses.

ssessu

hssaa
is the sound of skin shedding
and the emotion of the snake shedding the skin:
it-feels-so-good-to-get-this-off.

As a shifter, I have known
as many emotions
as I have skins, and many more.

mrau, the cats’ name for the moon,
is also the name of the mystical mood that comes with it –
I-am-contemplating-the-enigmas-of-the-universe-by-moonlight –
for to view the moon through the eyes of a cat
is to sense mysteries that reveal themselves only via that lens.

ffa … huu
is a word all shifters love,
the dolphins’ word for spouting after a long dive
and that feeling of release and refreshment,
blowing-out-the-old-breath-and-breathing-in-the-new,
and they use it for talking about relationships too,
which I think is why dolphin romances are such strange stories.

kree
is the gleam of sunbeams weaving through the ultraviolet vanes
of a hummingbird’s feathers, not only during display but all the time,
and the boldness that goes with it, bright and rich and nimble:
I-am-so-adroit-you-will-never-catch-me-no-matter-how-easy-I-am-to-see.
In that word is a hummingbird’s whole awareness of the world
but in human form I can hardly recall what it was like
to be such a jewel falling through a jar of honey.

There is danger in the world
as well as beauty,
and those who love to take what others hold
do not care about the damage they do.

This is the rhythm of a horse’s hooves, cantering,
hakoka, hakoka, hakoka
and the bodyfeel of speed and the glee of it,
running-between-wind-and-earth.

But I was not fast enough.
The skinhunters shot me down
and stripped the mystical skin from my body,
leaving me beached on my human bones
forever beyond reach of the tide.

Those emotions are lost to me now,
as surely as the shapes that gave them:
I can remember feeling them all,
but I can no longer feel them,
except for one.

I need to shed my skin,
but it won’t come off.
Snakes have a word for this, too,
the emotion of soul-itching-for-change-when-skin-is-stuck:
ssessu.

miintikwa

October 14 2009, 06:32:07 UTC 11 years ago

New comment

This is really beautiful. I love it.

Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

October 15 2009, 06:20:33 UTC 11 years ago

I'm happy to hear that.

fayanora

11 years ago

minor_architect

October 14 2009, 12:22:41 UTC 11 years ago

...

I think this just became one of my favorite poems of yours. <3

And I'll be re-posting it to my own journal very soon.

tuftears

October 14 2009, 19:08:37 UTC 11 years ago

Indeed, it's a lovely poem!

Thank you!

dormouse_in_tea

Yes...

Wow!

janetmiles

October 14 2009, 13:25:25 UTC 11 years ago

Oooh.

haikujaguar

October 14 2009, 14:03:05 UTC 11 years ago

So painful. -_-

October 14 2009, 17:33:20 UTC 11 years ago

The world is full of ways in which people reduce each other's choices and adaptability. The imagery in this poem is speculative, but the problem is real.

reileen

October 14 2009, 15:16:43 UTC 11 years ago

Beautifully sad.

e_scapism101

October 14 2009, 18:48:04 UTC 11 years ago

Yes.

October 14 2009, 20:10:17 UTC 11 years ago

I'm glad you like this one.

October 15 2009, 03:58:29 UTC 11 years ago

Oh, I know ssessu.

October 15 2009, 05:23:58 UTC 11 years ago

So do I. It makes me want to rub against things until I scrape off what's stuck.

siege

October 15 2009, 07:53:47 UTC 11 years ago

Moving.

October 17 2009, 07:04:20 UTC 11 years ago

Reminds me of one my shapeshifter side did some time ago:

"Daemon of Air and Darkness"
By

svaenohr (Tristan A. Arts)

I float light as a breeze.
A Daemon of air and darkness,
I dance through the sky.
Stars are my stepping-stones,
And I sing with the trees.

I dance like a breeze-blown drape.
A Daemon of heat and flame,
I radiate power into the night.
Logs are my roots, my bones,
And I am devoid of set shape.

I sink into the soil and stone.
A Daemon of earth and rock,
I rest from my exertions.
Within the earth I alight,
And here I make my nest, my home.

I slink serpentinely, I flow.
A Daemon of liquid and life,
I quench the thirst of my brethren.
My patience wears down even rock,
And I have power few can know.

I move at the speed of thought, I Am.
A Daemon of spirit and energy,
I dance through the universe.
Galaxies are my stepping stones,
And formless, shapeless I am.

shiver

October 17 2009, 21:33:06 UTC 11 years ago

This is beautiful! The last two lines are my favorites. I love flying formless through the deeps of space.

Re: shiver

October 17 2009, 07:11:25 UTC 11 years ago

I pimped this poem! http://fayanora.livejournal.com/579345.html

October 17 2009, 21:26:16 UTC 11 years ago

This is really appreciated. I think the networking is starting to boost participation in fishbowls.

darkoshi

October 18 2009, 00:03:51 UTC 11 years ago

Very nice!

October 18 2009, 00:22:04 UTC 11 years ago

I'm glad you like it.

settecorvi

October 20 2009, 12:30:41 UTC 11 years ago

This is gorgeous and heartbreaking. Thank you.

October 20 2009, 18:26:13 UTC 11 years ago

I'm so glad you enjoyed this poem.

laffingkat

October 22 2009, 01:26:22 UTC 11 years ago

What a lovely way of expressing something unpleasant. Well done.

October 23 2009, 06:00:22 UTC 11 years ago

I'm glad this poem worked for you.

Anonymous

July 12 2015, 20:04:08 UTC 5 years ago

"leaving me beached on my human bones
forever beyond reach of the tide."

I just wanted to let you know that these two lines have stuck with me for some years now - four or five, I should think. Such fantastic use of language. So evocative.

July 12 2015, 20:30:40 UTC 5 years ago

I'm glad you found this so meaningful. I love it when my writing sticks in people's heads!

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