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Wednesday 2 March 2011

A Perfect Bloody Picnic

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Magpie Tales provided this image for this week's prompt.
*

Out of the sun -
or a hundred watt bulb -
the sabre-toothed hornets,
wave upon wave
had fallen upon
their natural foes,
the five-fanged flies
with their death-ray eyes
laying their eggs
in a sausage meat roll
and feasting upon
the blow-out prepared
for a human tribe
that was looking scared.

The flies fighting back
at the rival gang,
tearing the teeth
from the hornets' jaws,
added more blood
to the sanguine scene,
'till all were dead,
but a favoured few
and the Table Rock
was the deepest hue
as the battered survivors
removed their dead.

It was all arranged -
God, you might have guessed! -
by Damien Hurst
at The Cube's behest.
His installation -
here you see it -
a palpable hit
with the cognoscenti.
The result of it all
you can plainly see:
the process
is what you infer,
said he.
This is the end
of a perfect picnic.
Imagine the bodies
preserved in aspic.

21 comments:

anthonynorth said...

Loved the reference to Hurst. Forget Emin's bed - Hurst's tea table is much more interesting.

Louise said...

Bit confused Dave, not understanding the Hurst connection? But then I am easily confused!!

Tess Kincaid said...

Love the artist's twist at the end with Damien Hirst!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Can we now expect a Hurst of hornets in aspic (sounds like a rather good meal actually)

Maggie said...

I don't know Hurst, but this was quite a picnic. : )

Dave King said...

anthonynorth
I do try to forget Emin's bed, but it's awfully difficult!

120 Socks
Damien Hurst preserves animals etc in Formaldehyde and exhibits them - sharks, cows, sheep etc.

Tess Kincaid
Good to have you with us, and many thanks for the comment.

The Weaver of Grass
It does at that. I'm sure it's a meal my grandparents would have taken to their hearts.

thingy
I'll try to organise another one in a bit. Great having your comment. Thanks.

Titus said...

Pefect Dave! We had it out loud and the whole family enjoyed it.
And more or less remembered it...

Kass said...

Delightful!

CiCi said...

First of all, I really like this picture and can think of so many stories to do with the picture.
Your writing brings my imagination to new heights. Great writing.

Cloaked Monk said...

What a fabulous way to take that bloody picture! I quite enjoyed the Disneyesque war scenes in my head and heartily enjoyed the movement at the end.

Shalom.

Other Mary said...

I'm amazed by all the different stories this pic has inspired. Your's is one of the more artful :o)

flaubert said...

Dave, this is some wonderful writing.
Now, having read the comments I know
who Damien Hurst is. I was going to google him:)

Pamela

Tumblewords: said...

Lovin' this one! It speaks of many things - sausages, ants and kings ...
:)

Trellissimo said...

Sheer genius, Sir! LOL

Dave King said...

Titus
You do me ole heart glad to such things. Thankee kindly.

Kass
Thanks Kass.

TechnoBabe
I do agree about the prompt. It let the imagination go in so many different directions, but I didn't fully realise what a great prompt it was until I got started.

Cloaked Monk
Hi and a very warm welcome to the blog. Thanks for visiting and for the comment. Disneyesque? Yup, I'll gladly settle for that. Thanks again!

Mary
A warm welcome to you and thanks for the great prompt. Did us all prud.

flaubert
Thanks for that. It occurred to me afterwards (too late!) that I should have included a link. I shall try to remember in future.

Tumblewords
Mmmmm as did the prompt, of course. Thanks for the comment.

Trellissimo
Hi and welcome to you. Thanks for calling and for the comment. Good to have you with us.

Uma Anandane said...

Wonderful Poem!Love the way it is written

Doctor FTSE said...

You never disappoint, Dave.

Dave King said...

Iwrite4u
Thanks, much appreciated.

Doctor FTSE
Thanks for the comment.

Lolamouse said...

I was loving your poem even before I got to the Damien Hirst reference. I admit I had to Google him, but glad I did! Now I appreciate your poem even more, and I learned a little something about modern "art."

Hyde Park Poetry Palace said...

brilliant.

Dave King said...

Lolamouse
Hi, it's great to have you visit. My thanks to you for your lovely comment. As above, apologies for not having provided a link.

Promising Poets Parking Lot
Many thanks for that.