Green man
I am bound with creepers
to the trunk of a dead tree,
red squirrels are attending me.
They bathe my brow with honeydew
bear my breast to the morning sun.
A man dressed in green
appears from the trunk
of a nearby elm
with long tendrils for hands
a face carved out of oak.
A unicorn trots into the scene
carrying a blade in its jaws.
The green man grabs it with glee
walks up to me, points at my heart,
and with a creaking smile cuts it in two.
The surgeon drops by in the night.
He is dressed in green.
His hands are long and lean.
He asks how I’m feeling,
says the procedure went well.
I really like the weaving of mythology into a physical event, and the way it emphasises the psychological effect on the speaker. This poem adds yet another dimension to your heart sequence.
Should it be ‘bare’ in the last line of stanza 1?
I’m ruminating over ‘with glee’. It bothers me but I’m not sure why. Love the unicorn though.
The weaving of imagery creates a bad dream scenario that I like a lot. From this point of view, the third and fourth lines of the third stanza is too specific and breaks the spell. The phrase ‘with glee’ seems a bit weak.
I love the imageryand the shock of realising that you’re under the surgeon’s knife. I agree with previous comments on glee.