Clockface
This poem was written for a Creative Writing course in March of 2019, when I was in my second year of college.
Clockface is a poem without much of a narrative; the narrator describes this grandfather clock in great detail, trying to peer inside to see how it works, before scaring themselves with their own reflection.
The focus is mainly on imagery and creating atmosphere. I wanted the reader to be able to have a vivid image in their minds as they read through it. I also intended for there to be a lot of internally rhyming within the lines of the poem.
Themes:
- Imagery
- Internal Rhyming
- Time/Aging
I counted my heartbeats with every
tick of the minute hand stuttering forward
to the cadenced and steady
marching of time.
Beige painted chips and cracks
slithered out fractally like the
stringy cobwebs ebbing at the
corners of the bronze
pendulum’s cage.
Stained wood bears spiraling grain and
the greying stains that prove its
ancient age seem to almost
drip like old oil down the sides and
onto the unswept base where
carved feet stand sturdy against
fraying rug.
At its face is a cover of
fine glass gone dusty,
streaking lines pull
granular particles diagonally from
the top corner down
to bottom.
Through the sooty veil of time
there spies a hazed vision of
my own image,
a gawking, wide-eyed stare
piercing across the threshold
from within the
clock’s chambers to peer
back into mine.
My body jolts
—alight in tremors—
acute buzzing behind
the brain as my back
makes intimate contact
with the plush
ground below.
I lie gazing with
eyes glazed over
at the textured plaster
ceiling high above
my head with
feeble fists reaching
to grasp the hands to
which I am
at mercy.
They never find their grip,
and I stay sprawled
against the carpet.
Internal rhyming within across these 3 lines:
grain,
greying stains,
ancient age.