Bound (Shaken, Not Stirred)
Bound
Increasingly, I move through life shaken
but not stirred. Smallish things upset me,
a minimart brand of earthquaking,
enough to jar all cans from their shelved lee
while the ceiling stays intact, my buzzed bars
of tubed fluorescence penning the sheet rock,
which, in turn, shuts out all chance of sighted stars.
As the kiltered cylinders fall, labels sock
my legs, shoulders, flat greens of creamed corn, stewed
tomatoes. I only vaguely shield my head
because I think I’m not truly there (though bruised),
the bond to the now so slack, and, in its place,
the shackles of passivity, blank space.
********************************
Here’s a rather grim sonnet in a Shakespearean mode (though I’m sure I do not have proper iambs and I also relied on slant rhyme) for dVerse Poets Pub’s second anniversary Thursday challenge, hosted by Tony Maude. (The challenge involved using a prompt from the past year. I refer to Gay Cannon’s article on basic sonnet forms.)
I also wrote this for Izzy Gruye’s Out of Standard challenge on With Real Toads to write something that used a famous line from a movie, without direct reference to the movie. In this case, it’s James Bond’s direction for the mixing of martinis.
Explore posts in the same categories: poetry, UncategorizedTags: disengaged poem, James Bond Martini goes to mini mart, manicddaily, Non-Shakespearean Sonnet, Shaken but not siirred by life, where did the fun go? (just kidding)
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ManicDDaily 
July 19, 2013 at 7:37 am
nice…love the bond reference…my fav bond of all time is daniel craig.. i think he’s supersexy…ha…smiles… love the bridge from earthquakes, cans and life, shaken but not stirred, the only vaguely shielding the head…sometimes it just hits us by surprise..i wished i had reflexes like bond you know…
July 19, 2013 at 7:52 am
smiles…bond is def a fav of mine…i like how you open with the line but then in the end you subtlely bring bond back in another form or meaning…i am rather the opposite…its not the small but big that shake me and when they do, they do terribly…smiles. kiltered cylinders…ha, i like how you put that…
July 19, 2013 at 8:59 am
Love this Karin.. (I’m a big fan of sonnets) I got the imagery of the falling cans. lingerers a sticky kind of panic .. or was it just an earthquake 🙂
July 19, 2013 at 9:25 am
Beautiful poem, made even more beautiful by the challenges placed on your way. Many thanks.
Greetings from London.
July 19, 2013 at 10:02 am
I’ve read this three times, just for the rhythmic quality–especially like the imagery of lines of cans (of once living green things) falling–kiltered cylinders is fantastic– burying one in modern life’s artificially preserved, convenience store trivials–opening line is just a fantastic draw-in, even if one had no knowledge of the movie reference. You manage to pin down a condition that is usually just an uncomfortable, almost invisible nuance, a malaise of minor disruption that permeates like a must. Nothing like a sonnet for framing stuff like this, and you as always, work to the form’s strengths while stretching it to fit your picture.
July 19, 2013 at 10:25 am
I know the feeling you describe here, the ‘Smallish things upset me’. How clever of you to realize that notion so well in your sonnet.
July 19, 2013 at 10:26 am
Karin, I so loved this! I can hear you smiling and laughing at yourself. This is an infectious one!
Let’s have tea.
July 20, 2013 at 8:18 am
Yes, Nina – that would be great–I’m sorry to be so slow in getting back–(I am in city just a few days a week now, but I’d love to meet you.) k.
July 20, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Alas, I am quite sure I am half the world away from you Karin. But we can always have virtual tea!
July 20, 2013 at 1:16 pm
Ah. Somehow I thought you might be in NYC.
July 19, 2013 at 11:31 am
I love bond’s reference: shaken, not stirred, a minimart brand of earthquaking ~ Shelves and cans can rattle but good to have that ceiling intact ~
Good work on the sonnet form K ~
July 19, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Very clever sonnet, Karin. But the experience dealing with an earthquake of cans falling would NOT be pleasant.
July 19, 2013 at 1:16 pm
No, no, agreed absolutely.
July 19, 2013 at 2:39 pm
got lost in the lovely quagmire of symbols and sonnet, but after a couple reads began to appreciate the sentiments; nice ride, Karen, thanks.
July 19, 2013 at 3:00 pm
Brilliant take on that movie line. Seriously, I’m, gnashing my teeth that I didn’t think of that.
July 19, 2013 at 3:37 pm
You know, I have gotten some kind of weird vertigo headache today after posting, and realized that I’d only written thirteen lines. So silly. I’m going to try to fix but just haven’t been able to. Thanks, MZ. k.
July 19, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Excellent work. Very nice phrasing here–“kiltered cylinders” is perfect! And the use of the noun “bond” (as well as the verb form “bound”) in addition to the movie line is big time clever.
July 19, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Thanks so much.
July 19, 2013 at 6:01 pm
Once I got Bond in my head, your words translated into exaggerated special effects and I was blown away. Good job.
July 20, 2013 at 12:04 am
oh, shiny!!! Bond reinvented for the commoner, or rather the extraordinary. I love how the imagery you chose given an “action movie chase sequence” feel to the everyday. Great writing in this piece Karen!!! Viva la
July 20, 2013 at 2:40 pm
[…] for those who are interested in process, here’s the original thirteen line poem, called Bound. It’s actually fairly different (with stewed tomatoes, for […]
July 20, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Oh I so love this–13 lines or no–your rhythm here is so wonderful–a piece o read aloud again and again
July 20, 2013 at 8:52 pm
Thanks so much, Audrey! I haven’t really compared them- I mean, of course, I sort of did in trying to re-write – but I’m not sure works better. I sometimes don’t like sonnets so much–they get a little pat – so maybe shorter does work better. Thanks much for reading both. k.