The Jar Beneath My Tongue


By Henjansson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons


I keep my disappointment in a jar beneath my tongue
and I let it roll around there sometimes
just to see what it tastes like.

Sometimes when I am feeling alone
I take it out,
check its color,
its veneer--
--bright blue lapis.

Today it slides easily 
from one side to another
and a coolness seeps out--
cucumber and mint.
It isn't what I expect of disappointment really.
I had thought a bitter flavor,
or spicy,
so I could feel my anger.

Today as it slips and rolls
in its coolness
I wonder if anger will come
or will its coolness soothe~

copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2012


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Comments

  1. I love this!!!
    Wow... a jar beneath my tongue. Wish I would have thought of that.
    Great write my friend!!

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  2. I like this. Keeping your disappointment contained within a jar :) Being of the emotional-brain type, I wish I could keep a lid on mine. I can taste iron from the blood, where my jar has shattered on my soft palate. Nice to read a poem about emotion. Great read, thanks.

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    1. Thank you for the read and comments Samantha! Enjoy the pup!

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  3. Oh this is exquisite writing.
    Expecting one taste only to discover another. Bitterness eventually would make everything taste sour I expect.

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    1. Thank you Bren for reading--your piece is sad and I wish your sister well--

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  4. What a terrific outlook: like a gob-stopper, revealing shades of pain.
    I adore this idea. I wonder if your voice sounds plummy on days when disappointment is huge :-)

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  5. I bet you found the cooling sootheness and went off to play ukulele in the shade!

    Very good metaphor that jar under your tongue! Well done indeed, Audrey.

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    1. Thank you so much for stopping by and reading it--greatly appreciated!

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  7. Really loved the way this mingled and conflated sensory stimuli and emotions, colors and thoughts--to me it suggests the lack of grasp we have on the intricacies of our own dilemmas really well, and also the idea that it's all something to savor, to taste, to evaluate like a wine-tasting.

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    1. Thank you hedgewitch! I guess I do think that the "negative" emotions all bear sitting with and examining--

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  8. I love this piece. It's images are different and yet roll off the tongue like the most normal thing that could occur! This is the magic it truly holds. Well done!

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  9. Learning to live with disappointment requires a real understanding of what it is, how else do we know if we can bear it? It always surprises me the lengths we sometimes go to in avoiding a feeling, sometimes making a greater mess in the process. This was insightful and well written, thank you.

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    1. I think it was M. Scott Peck who said that most of the real pain in the world is caused by trying to avoid it in the first place--thank you so much for reading and commenting!

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  10. I know exactly what you mean! Great write, Audrey!

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  11. Such beautiful, beautiful writing to describe disappointment, Audrey! I don't think I'd mind mine if it came in that shape, color and scent/flavor. Such expression! Loved.

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  12. I love this... the first stanza especially... amazing!

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  13. I like the taste and feel of this...very well presented ~

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  14. It comes to us all, keeping it contained in a jar is a great way to look at it. As it is there, but not out on display causing us too much pain.

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  15. Wow, Audrey. I love the idea you've put out there with this one. You've really captured the conflict between the expectation of things and the reality of them when we finally meet the experience. Great piece.

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    1. Thank you Emma--thanks so much for reading and commenting--so much appreciated!

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  16. Absolutely love everything about this!
    Stunnnig imagery, unique and inviting, your description is outstanding in this one, a fav! xoxo

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  17. ooo i really like the end in pondering which it brings...this is a great verse...love the opening with it in a jar under your tongue...and taking it out to examine it periodically...

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  18. This is very very cool. The beginning just takes off and never lets up. So imaginitive and stunning in its simplicity. Just delightful, bringing in its wake a sense of awe at how life brings with it such openness to things that we never expect. Delightful, rich, beautiful poem.

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  19. I love this....Today as it slips and rolls
    in its coolness
    I wonder if anger will come
    or will its coolness soothe~just awesome!!!!!!!!!!

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  20. ha - i like...cucumber and mint..disappointment def. has a taste...and probably changes its taste like a chamaeleon..what i like here is that you give this feeling a "face" because usually it's something so abstract and hard to grasp..

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    1. I think in terms of colors and flavors I think---Thank you so much!

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  21. Very interesting, and very cool poem. I've never thought of how anger tastes like, I would imagine it would be a hot taste, scalding into tastelessness. But "sweet" would for sure be the antidote.

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    1. Thank you so much Quirina--I would also imagine anger as hot--spicy

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  22. I'm in love with this! Great poem Audrey! Thanks for sharing! ♥

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  23. This is fantastic! It has such a mysterious optimism to it. :)

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    1. I have thought about his comment--and I think it describes me--mysteriously optimistic! Thank you so much Rachel!

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  24. Intriguing imagery illuminates this brilliant write with very arresting juxtapositions. Superb job!

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  25. I really enjoy poetry like this- using tangable images to convey emotion. Enjoy the way you describe the emotion in terms of flavour and taste- unsual! but in a good way. Also strangely optimistic- will anger come? does anger always come as a result of dissapointment? these are intersting questions you ask.

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    1. Thank you Stu! I do think I am a strangely optimistic sort--

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  26. A very interesting image, thoughtfully explored. Thanks. K.

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  27. One way to be in control is to compartmentalize. And a jar is just as well.The image is fantastic, very psychedelic!

    Hank

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  28. The taste of disappointment - it's an awesome way to look at it :) LOVE THIS...

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  29. Oh yes. I love the way you explore the taste of disappointment. We often hear that you can taste it, but I've never heard the taste described in such wonderful, and various, detail! Great write.

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    1. Thank you Andrew--I hadn't thought about that adage in the writing--but it must have been tucked away in my mind somewhere--

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  30. One of the most inventive poems I've read lately. Taking a feeling, giving it taste and texture (and a secret place as well). Just stunning.

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  31. Audrey! This is fantastic! So very unique in its play...Lord knows we've all written poems about disappointment...but it's a delight to see one get so intimate with it...just a great share!

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  32. Wow, I really like this!! :) So well written and beautifully expressed feelings.

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  33. I like the way this came about. Definitely a new perspective, the coolness I like that a lot. Really creative and very nicely done, thanks.

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  34. I hope you are discovering other sites to place your lovely work Audrey. There are quite a number that I place mine on different weekdays.
    Thanks for your lovely comment today, made me smile.

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    1. Thank you Bren! I am slowly making my way through I think--thank you so much for all your help~

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  35. 'as it slips and rolls'... really love those last lines!

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  36. All too easily, the tendency to deal with disappointments is to get rid of it as soon as possible. Flunk it outside, or try to hammer it to little pieces. Examining it in a jar, with such fascination holds the narrator, with curiosity observes it. Very interesting and insightful write.

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  37. Oh the jar under ones tongue can tell a lot about character. I've hidden and rolled one often around mine and sometimes it fell out and crashed to the floor in front of me in disgust. Anger, laughter and sorrow hides in one of them. I spit that jar out often as my Muse smacks me on my back to spew it forth. When I find sweetness, laughter, joy I quickly look for my flowered design jar and savor and roll it around with delight and pray it will stay awhile. I loved this work Audrey, a real delight to read and it sure caught my attention.

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  38. Wow what a great way to describe disappointment I wish my imagination were as vivid as yours.

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  39. Good work, Audrey. Thanks or sharing!

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  40. Love the poem, you make us taste the decision before we make any.. .listen to feelings and sensations, before taking it to head...and everyone has that special place for taster...Innovative, inspiring!

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