Donald Harbour Poetry

“I hope I can be the autumn leaf, who looked at the sky and lived. And when it was time to leave, gracefully it knew life was a gift.” ~ Dodinsky

Your Melba toast gets soggy

Posted on 3 September 2009 by Donald Harbour

I suppose that one day I will wake-up to a bad dream
finding life the effect of a salami on rye sandwich.

You see, in this circus, balancing the flaming debris
of the corpus on the chin will burn you.

Is a bad dream really a metaphor for poor choices,
of leaving, staying, saying, mocking angst?

Or, is it a pyrotechnic pentagram filled with all the magic
and ridiculousness that follows an outcome, as remorse?

We are all zombies trudging through our existence until the door
slams shut on tomorrow and your Melba toast gets soggy.

If I swallow this torched frame of life will I disappear, will tissue
papers of the past become fly ash, smokey wisps to my memory?

11 thoughts on “Your Melba toast gets soggy”

Derrick on 3 September 2009 at 8:32 AM said:

Hello Donald,

There’s nothing worse than soggy Melba toast, is there?! I love the last two lines.

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Linda on 3 September 2009 at 8:45 AM said:

This poem was more biting than “soggy melba toast”! I enjoyed your point of view and I thank you for the insightful glimpse into our decisive choices in life. Well done.

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Annamari on 3 September 2009 at 11:42 AM said:

will they?
very well done (what is the brand of “poetic prunes” you used?)

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gautami tripathy on 3 September 2009 at 12:06 PM said:

Wonderful title!

Sometimes we do make the wrong choices!

geometry of fireworks cuts into me

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iverhyck on 3 September 2009 at 12:29 PM said:

Well written, my friend. Like to wake up in a fir.
Konstantin.

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davidmoolten on 3 September 2009 at 4:29 PM said:

I like your terse wry, dry sense of humor in this. Your voice really counterpoints the poem’s lovely wild swings in imagery:

“Is a bad dream really a metaphor for poor choices,
of leaving, staying, saying, mocking angst?

Or, is it a pyrotechnic pentagram…

We are all zombies trudging through our existence until the door
slams shut on tomorrow and your Melba toast gets soggy”

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Cynthia Short on 3 September 2009 at 5:08 PM said:

LOVE the third stanza…great job!

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wayne on 3 September 2009 at 6:30 PM said:

very nice Donald….dreams are……well never bad…and melba toast…soggy…..is always bad

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poetryaboutart on 3 September 2009 at 10:44 PM said:

In the photograph, the performer’s mouth and chin are important — the place of balance. Your poem, referring as it does to the mouth, chin, and throat, highlights that importance. A unique angle on the photograph.

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Paul Oakley on 4 September 2009 at 6:09 PM said:

My favorite lines are:
“We are all zombies trudging through our existence until the door
slams shut on tomorrow and your Melba toast gets soggy.”

More emphasis for me on the zombie trudgery of ordinary existence than on the soggy Melba toast!

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nathan on 4 September 2009 at 8:17 PM said:

I wish I could practice hallucinatory meditation. That sounds really good. This whole poem is great but I especially love the lines Paul mentions.

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