Shrek: For your information, there’s a lot more to ogres than people think.
Donkey: Example?
Shrek: Example… uh… ogres are like onions!
[holds up an onion, which Donkey sniffs]
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes… No!
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry?
Shrek: No!
Donkey: Oh, you leave ’em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’ little white hairs…
Shrek: [peels an onion] NO! Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.
[walks off]
Donkey: Oh, you both have LAYERS. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions. What about cake? Everybody loves cake!
Shrek: I don’t care what everyone else likes! Ogres are not like cakes.
Donkey: You know what ELSE everybody likes? Parfaits! Have you ever met a person, you say, “Let’s get some parfait,” they say, “Hell no, I don’t like no parfait”? Parfaits are delicious!
Shrek: NO! You dense, irritating, miniature beast of burden! Ogres are like onions! End of story! Bye-bye! See ya later.
Donkey: Parfait’s gotta be the most delicious thing on the whole damn planet!
When you ask me to explain,
I give myself to you wrapped, an onion–
speak each ringed, acid truth
until your eyes smart,
uncovering a series of stinging layers
that lead to no answer and more questions.
There is a center to what I say,
a core, small and quiet;
never directly addressed,
alive in the silence between words,
inferred, suggested,
never named precisely.
If I could tell
what unfolds under this skin,
what blooms and gives flight,
I wouldn’t bother with poetry–
just say it plain as denim,
simple as the dirt I pull words from.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
wonderful juxtaposition with the Shrek passage
Thanks, Paul. I just had to do it!
Wonderful simile, made absolutely fresh and so full of truth, resonating!! I loved the lines, “if i could tell you … I wouldn’t bother with poetry” Makes me glad you cannot tell me, I’d hate to lose your poetry. Made my morning a little brighter Susan!
Aw, purple, thank you! Just thinking about how/why I started writing, way back when…
The wonderful world according to Sus…my my where your minds leads us at times..is simply as delightful and fanciful as having a parfait bath. 🙂
Hee, hee. Thank you! You so got the humor of being misunderstood.
ok not the best english – but it’s 1:30 am here 😦 think you got the drift..
Got it, m’dear and thank you!
thank you for not coming right out with the truths you’ve mined…it makes it doubly fun for me to find them for myself! Really enjoyed this one. The ending in dirt wraps the whole onion thing up perfectly:) No one can avoid that ending in dirt… inevitable
Angie, thank you! That’s quite true–none of us escapes that.
great poem and a familiar feeling
Thanks, Bruce. If we could all say what we mean plainly, would we write? Not sure. Whatever the cause, I am glad we do write.
Oh, completely amazing. I love the “center” and “if I could tell you”. Brilliant.
Thanks, Shrinks. Right after I wrote this, I remembered that dialogue between Shrek and Donkey, and had to include it. If you substitute me for Shrek, and poets for ogres, it’s how I feel most of the time. Smiles.
Lovely Susan. You know how I feel about silences.
The silence at the center is the biggest and fullest of them all.
Meaning is best when it is just hidden enough …
Speaking the Unspeakable Suze–
Johnny, thanks! So glad you shared your reaction. Silence says more than words can, ever.
Plain as denim, great line.
Thank you, Brian.
What I love about poetry is the truths they express can easily get around our defenses. They can seep in through our taste of parfait and smell and burn of onion. So keep bothering with poetry!
Oh, it is definitely too under my skin to stop, ever 😉
thanks for te wonderful comment!
Inspired ~ nice one 🙂
Thanks, Polly!
Susan, I really like “the dirt I pulled words from” image. But dirt isn’t simple. Not at all. It’s a complex smelly living, rotting, growing thing with powdered stone and beetles, microbes, molds, red wiggling worms, weed seeds and a millions different scents depending on the season, time of day, wetness, location and what it’s been used for. Wow. I love the simple dirt I pull words from. I have dirt in my veins. 😉 Lovely all again. Thanks for writing. Alice
Alice–thank you! Ah, you have my gardener’s hands tingling. Nope, dirt is not simple at all, and so glad you caught that! Dirt is a biome, with its own checks and balances, and mysteries. We just don’t notice it because it is usually quiet under our feet, invisible, and taken for granted–just like the pauses and breath between words.
Susan, Also taken for granted like all the words erased, crossed out and tossed away in the poem pruning process. Those words leave behind ghosts, shadows and footprints in the spaces, breaths and pauses between words. Alice
Oh! Another poem there too, Alice.
The air is alive with poems on some days. It’s a shame to have to deal with regular living like feeding kids lunch and sweeping under the bird cage.;-)
So true!
Dang. I’ll get writing.
alive in the silence between words. yep!
So much there that stays unsaid…
This made me smile–both the Shrek passage and the truth of your piece–
Audrey, thank you so much!
Love the Shrek passage – one of my favourites form the movie 🙂 As for poets being like onions – maybe Donkey has several points? And your poem – you were wondering when I’d get round to that, weren’t you – is really good; plain as denim and simple as the soil – i.e. not simple at all!
Tony, you are awesome! Thanks for sharing that love of Shrek…and for appreciating te poem.
Brilliantly done
C, thank you!
Love this- I love all your poetry, as you know – you certainly have many layers and a very special centre – but this is a particular favourite!!! 🙂
Helen, thank you! I am so glad you liked it!
You muse took you on a wild, fun, creative ride, Susan. Loved it!
Victoria, thank you! Glad it made you smile.
Great contrast between Shrek and your poem. “Simple as the dirt I pull words from” – just superb.
Rowan, thank you. I love describing something common as simple–what we take for granted is not so simple after all, is it?
What a goody and the finale….mmm, yes.
Thank you so much…smiling.
Good words, Susan, but I’m still laughing over parfaits and onions. I’m no onion lover, but I do love your writing – and parfaits. 😉
Thanks, Nelle! Don’t feel bad, I laughed like crazy when I was putting in the dialogue, believe me!
smiles…wonderful verse…it takes someone special as well to peel that onion and get to what we are addressing indirectly often…and not just give it a glance catching only the reflection on the surface…ha…i like shrek too…smiles.
Thank you, Brian. Love that ogre with attitude.
smiles..love the onion image…layers…just say it plain as denim,
simple as the dirt I pull words from….yes, yes, yes..
Ah, Claudia–thank you!
Wow, everyone has said all the important things. I will simply add that I enjoyed this and found its concept clever.
Thanks, Mary–appreciate your comment–and your enjoying this is as important as anything else 😉
I like the onion metaphor, and some things just hurt when we uncover the center ~ Good one Susan ~
Thank you, Grace–and that’s true. Can be quite painful to get to the center.
A poetic juxtapose, cunning, and brilliant!
I love this…I almost thought it was a “Flarf” poem.
You should write a “Flarf” poem about “Orges”, “Cakes”, & Onions. That would be something interesting there. 🙂
🙂
P.S please check out my new blog poem. Inputs are most appreciated. 🙂
Dj Dead Cow -http://charliezero1.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/dj-dead-cow/
Thanks, Charlie, and what a great idea! Might have to toy with it…or you could, you Flarf-master! Will check out your cow now.
“Simple as the dirt I pull words from”
What an awesome line. It might inspire my next poem. You’ve out my thinking cap on tonight Susan!
SO glad to hear that! Let me know what you come up with!
You made me laugh this morning.
Great stuff.
Haven’t peeled an onion for years, but this will make me smile next time I do.
Glad yo hear that–me too, on the onion peeling.
superb concept susan. if a poet didn’t have something to give out from the soul, one would not be as much of a being. it’s also like when you take a fresh onion without putting it under water before cutting it and how it makes your eyes water. that is what a poet can do – because they can. and in the same sense it shows just how much a poet can endure in or with any situation – the toughness that can come with it.
Exactly, Don. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!