While reading GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn, I came across an unfamiliar word that I paused to look up: OUBLIETTE. Images of oubliettes led to poetic verbal images in haikus, and final to this poem, prompted by one memorable word!
Haikued View from an Oubliette
by S. L. Lipson
Conceived in a room,
We start our lives in
darkness
Shackled by a cord.
Concealed in that womb,
Till light fills the oubliette—
Walls quake and free us.
Contained by no one,
We reach for others, and yet,
Live behind new walls.
Connected by windows,
Lest despair's fog makes them walls--
A mind's oubliette.
Consoled when fresh rain
Defogs our glass, refracts
light,
Refreshes our view.
Reborn throughout life
Climbing walls, we gasp for breath—
For new light each day.
WHAT SINGLE, MEMORABLE WORD HAS INSPIRED YOUR POETRY? Feel free to share one below (and to share my poem with other poetry lovers)!
