Stone Soup Servings is a regular series for Oddball Magazine that features upcoming performers at Stone Soup Poetry, the long-running spoken word venue in the Boston area that has partnered with Oddball Magazine. Stone Soup Poetry meets from 8-10 p.m. every Monday at the Out of The Blue Art Gallery at 106 Prospect Street with an open mike sign-up at 7:30 p.m

Tonight, Stone Soup will begin its good-bye to 106 Prospect Street as the Out of The Blue art Gallery prepares to move to their new location to Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square by the end of the month. A perfect beginning to this swan song is Gallery co-founder Deborah M. Priestly to the podium. A never-before-published poem of hers follows.

 

Temptation

I deny these feelings
who would want what isn’t good for them
insanity is never attractive
although it does capture the attention
drunken wash of indifference
shining down impatiently, a reminder
of what all of us could be if we gave up hope.

I can’t allow myself
to think about the temptation
to repeat a cycle of shame and abuse
no, not again, no not again,
disconnect, then snap the rubber band
around the wrist – to come back
attack of the past, the familiar abandon

I think I see the leaves disappearing
fading into the atmosphere
wings beneath wings,
sweeping their silent forms into oblivion
none of them have names or destinations
their death is fire and their joy, distraction
these fleeting guides listen well to air.