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The soft burn screams my name
encased in glass, woken up
and shaken.
Already over,
I'm late to the banquet
draped in silks and richly possessed
of Abaddon.
Drink the wine.
It's voyage speaks of prim maxims
and obscene fruit.
Eat, eat my love
and fatten your teeth;
the throne is empty.
PS. If you can, try your hand at giving some of the others a bit of feedback. If you already have, thanks, can you do some more?
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Sorry, I got distracted by you draped in silks... its in S3 L2, now that's out of the way...
I never know whether Abaddon is meant to be a "king" or a "place" and I'm not conversant enough with the literature, but I suppose it's really no different from Hades referring to both the personage and position/state, so in my head that's sorted. Regardless, this poem sings of the temptress, exhorting the delights of the forbidden. I had to look up "head cheese", only to discover it's that terrible stuff my granny used to force feed us as "brawn". That takes me wonderful places because the head, when boiled, produces a lovely natural jelly that all things may be thrown into and set in a conglomeration of offally goodness -- thus the leftovers become the centrepiece. Now that is a great leveller, that all bodies may be reduced to a terrine held together only by the unifying qualities of the head.
The prim maxims -- wine made in monasteries, or similar cloisters? (You must read "The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" by Julian Barnes for his wonderful discussion of why Noah couldn't wait to plant a vineyard). Obscene fruit -- well, all things enjoyable are obscene, aren't they? Sometimes it seems that the only holy thing in the universe is plain cardboard (unbleached of course) or maybe a piece of unleavened bread (perhaps they're the same thing actually). I love the ambiguity of "eat my love" as opposed to "eat, my love". The throne -- so Abaddon the king then, or Abaddon the state of being achieved when one abandons oneself to decadence and is lost.
Such fun!
And you changed the name of the piece when I was writing my comment, so half of it is meaningless!
It could be worse
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I changed it back. I like it better this way 
And I do so adore the way your mind works. The throne being empty = this "the state of being achieved when one abandons oneself to decadence and is lost. " and in my thought process, tied in to the higher self abandoning the physical incarnation to its muddied intricacies, which totally ties in with the head cheese.
PS. If you can, try your hand at giving some of the others a bit of feedback. If you already have, thanks, can you do some more?
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(maybe I just want to be lost to decadence  )
It could be worse
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Very exotic Aish, an Epicurean delight ( especially if one happens to love cheese and red wine ), had a bit of trouble with the title to start, didn't know what head cheese was, duh, after much googling and Leanne's explanation I'm now much wiser, I have a bit of trouble giving a decent critique as I'm still very much the novice, but would like to say how much I enjoyed this piece. On the first reading, thoughts of Eric Burdon's 70s hit, Spill the Wine, were very vivid in my mind, and still are! After reading your 'lost in decadence' comment I reread it again several times and wondered if it would have fitted in there somewhere. But you are a poet and as the artist, should not be forced to explain. Thanks for a good read!
Cheers, jiminy 
Oh what a wicket web we weave!
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Are you American, Aish?
In the UK the Head Cheese, or the Big Cheese is an expression to refer to The Boss Man.
As always with your verse, I struggle, usually in vain, to understand your words....and this is no exception. Honestly, without reading Leanne's crit I should be in the dark. 'The soft burn' - nope, no idea...the rest of this bit is presumably a bottle of something opened and poured?
The soft burn screams my name
encased in glass, woken up
and shaken.
Don't know what is over. Don't know who 'I' is, whether the 'I' is draped in silks and richly possessed of Abaddon or the banquet. (Abaddon I would have looked up but Leanne saved me the trouble)
Already over,
I'm late to the banquet
draped in silks and richly possessed
of Abaddon.
Okay with this bit (prim maxims again Leanne saved me the trouble of looking this up)
Drink the wine.
It's voyage speaks of prim maxims (Its)
and obscene fruit.
Eat, eat my love
and fatten your teeth;..........never heard of fat teeth, ever before.
the throne is empty. Don't know whose throne, or what this has to do with the previous lines.
So, there you are......your pearls were cast before swine. I apologise for being such a dumbo and a disappointing audience. But, there is no point in my pretending otherwise.
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Ah! Head Cheese...gross! (The Germans are only slightly behind the Japanese in the category of most yuck food on the planet. However, I think head cheese is beaten out by live money brains!)
Very original though. Who would ever have thought of viewing it from the Head Cheese's point of view? For some reason it reminds me of the movie "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", although I suppose the intellectual competence of the leads are equal!
"prim maxims" is a double entendre.
It's and interesting pairing though "prim maxims" and "obscene fruit" although I have often felt that way as regards homilies and aphorisms, of course neither arrive with the connotation of alcohol to comfort you, or in the case of the Head Cheese, pickle you, but I guess both are much the same.
Very nice poem.
Dale
How long after picking up the brush, the first masterpiece?
The goal is not to obfuscate that which is clear, but make clear that which isn't.
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