[stylist] "Snuff"

[Miss Thea]

Hmm. Perhaps the murderer became ill with some kind of remorse on seeing the 
photo he'd just made?
I still say everything from "O reader, you've had your monsters too", etc., 
is the murderer talking back to his conscience or the reader, who would look 
down on such an act, and tell us not to be so smug. After all, we have our 
monsters, our ridiculous devils.
I enjoy the word pairing: ridiculous devil.
As in, shadows that when you turn on the lights, aren't as frightening as 
they seem, or perhaps quirks of personality or psyche that would seem as 
stupid to the murderer as his murder or snuff photo would seem to us.
Seems the guy is a relativist.
This would be a great poem to give to tenth-graders or older for study.
Thea

-----Original Message----- 
From: William L Houts
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 7:24 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] "Snuff"





Hey Stylists,

Here's a poem I wrote last summer.  The subject, I'm afraid, is not very
pleasant, but I think that it's the best out of a passel of poems I
wrote last year.  Comments welcome.


--Bill


---


The photo made me ill:that's how I knew.

This was no gaffe, no show for the marks

but murder:the plain motel bed,

and the eyes, god the eyes of dephless X.

Hewas naked,

this man reduced to the size

of someone's doll.The legs hung

over the bed's edge, and he lay,

his back flat, though beyond all rest,

all sight, all knowing. As if only

this camera, this eye

and the knifelike eye

behind it, unveiled how things really are:

a mansion of rooms without pity,

and their stunted ridiculous devils

O reader, with your outraged eye

you've had your monsters too:

your heartsblood thieves, your killers,

your stunted ridiculous devils

O reader,with your dog-nose truth,

your yes, your gifts of mending fire

you are the hope for us all.

and upon our stricken heads,

the gracious rains fall.











-- 
"Let's drink a toast now to who we really are."

           --Jane Siberry

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