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Adam's Debut – March 27 in NYC!

PURPLE HEART II

with 16 comments

He came to liberate your love
but after the white flag
was a year-long occupation,
a soldier’s ghost
with phantom valour
and your amputated heart.

© Bryan Borland

Written by Bryan Borland

July 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm

16 Responses

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  1. You channel my grief well, my friend.

    medicatedlady

    July 6, 2009 at 1:27 pm

  2. Well now I hate him, so your words must be like the fangs on a tiger. You are both very good when you are being very blood thirsty. :)

    Val

    July 6, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    • oooh yeah….. don’t cross us… we’ll manhandle you with metaphors… we’ll slice you with similes! We’ll decapitate you with diction!!!! Well, not you. We’ll hug you with hyperbole.

      poeticgrin

      July 6, 2009 at 5:56 pm

  3. You’re a good friend, Bryan. A good poet too.

    paulandrewrussell

    July 6, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    • 1) I am a good friend. M’Lady needs to recognize this on or around July 30. Have I mentioned I’m turning thirty?

      2) Thank you for the compliments. :)

      poeticgrin

      July 6, 2009 at 5:57 pm

    • i second that :)

      jessiecarty

      July 8, 2009 at 12:29 pm

  4. Great poem.
    Love seen like a war, I can see the resemblance, there is the conquest, the living together complicated times, the wait for liberation, the marks left by the war; the scars, they do not ever heal, they just got hidden under thickened skin.

    Maybe the only difference is that love is not necesarely violent, and is not suppose to produce harm most of the time. But indeed they both end up turning people into violent revenge seeking machines.

    mariana

    July 6, 2009 at 2:08 pm

  5. Amputated heart…that’s a powerful image.

    Tel

    July 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm

  6. I find myself drawn to the last lines of your three poems tonight. Here it’s- your amputated heart. That’s the most powerful line in the poem. Have a great night.

    Michelle Johnson

    July 6, 2009 at 6:12 pm

  7. Bryan, you are outrageously brilliant. Even your comments are jewels of laughter and intelligence and grace. This series of three poems forms what used to be called a suite (that is a bit pretentious nowadays though) and it is a fabulous one, working like a three dimensional view across time of a relationship. But it is the uniqueness, the lack of cliche or mawkish sentiment that brings the poems to life and the people in them. Wonderful work, as always.

    Paul

    July 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

  8. Instinctively (that’s how I react to your work) I was most struck and moved by the simple phrase ‘after the white flag’. It’s not the most original poetic image, but you used it brilliantly to make the most of the love&war (or is it war&love?) tension of this economically constructed little masterpiece.

    Oh, and ‘phantom valour’ and ‘amputated heart’. I’m in awe of your talent.

    queerlefty

    July 7, 2009 at 5:02 pm

  9. Read a few of your works… You’re a brilliant poet, with a wonderful way with words!

    The Dark Lord

    July 8, 2009 at 1:08 am

  10. Very easy to empathize with the sentiment here. Great imagery to push through the point. Not sure which one I love more, “I” or “II”. Instant classic Borlands. Golf clap.

    Encore! III, III, III!

    Vic

    July 9, 2009 at 10:32 am

  11. This is an awe inspiring series, Bryan. You have captured so much tension and created a real sense of anticipation. I can feel the embryo of a mini series kicking my grey matter.

    Brad

    July 11, 2009 at 8:31 am


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