Monday, October 15, 2007

blood



Blood is hot.

Blood is warm.

Blood is cold

Blood is sticky.

The color of blood.

Spilt blood.

(The traditional diet of the Masai people in Kenya includes a beverage composed chiefly of cow's blood and milk.)

Blood red.

Blood type.

Blood money.

Blood relative.

A bloody steak.

A bloody nose.

A bloody Mary.

(Cut your finger. Suck the wound. Mouth the word vampire.)

Blood on the sheets.

Blood on the tracks.

Blood on your hands.

A drop of blood.

A cup of blood.

A pint of blood.

A bucket of blood.

A pool of blood.

(Menstruation is the only bleeding that does not indicate injury.)


Blood carries oxygen.

Blood transfusions.

Blood indicates life.

Blood indicates death.

(Blood that is not contained is always dramatic.)

Blood. Blood. Blood.

Blood is metallic.

Blood is sweet.

Blood coursing through a healthy artery.

Blood trickling through a diseased artery.

Blood spurting from a severed artery.

Fear of blood.

Love of blood.

Need of blood.

Blood.

(Stare at the word blood long enough and it becomes nonsensical.)

* * *





16 comments:

Velvet Fog said...

Ehhh, Beavis?

Libby Spencer said...

Bloody well done.

Mackenzie said...

A word that always looks nonsensical to me is shoulder.

Anonymous said...

I once gave a hickey to a Mennonite girl. Quasi-bloody.

Norm said...

*faints*

Erin O'Brien said...

This piece has been on my mind for the longest time. I draft this stuff and comb over it again and again. I loved the idea of beleaguering the word "blood."

It's such a singular concept, so elemental.

Being able to write stuff like this and know that people read it and react to it on so many different levels is one of favoritest things about blogging.

There is truly no better home for this sort of writing than a blog such as mine.

Hi. Love you.

Ken Houghton said...

"(Menstruation is the only bleeding that does not indicate injury.)"

Why men fear women: the only animal that bleeds for four or five days and doesn't die.

Roxi said...

erin...

my essences hearts you.

Whitenoise said...

bloody hell...

Speaking of nonsensical, why don't you do a post on cursewords? My current student is french-canadian, uttering "chalice!" whenever he fucks up.

It's really quite odd. Their swear words all have religious connotations. Maudi Tabernac!

wisdomstuff said...

I disagree about blood being sweet.

In actuality a woman can bleed far longer and not die. We are amazing, aren't we?

And, did you know that blood is actually blue but once it comes in contact with oxygen it turns red?

Anonymous said...

Hey, Erin!

You know what's bloody fabulous?

Anthony Bourdain (swoon) is doing a whole show about Cleveland - it airs next week, Monday at 9 est.

Saw that and thought of you.

Cheers!
Tracy

Velvet Fog said...

Erin,
Your comments on my blog are giving me priapism! Please keep it up!

Velvet Fog said...

Mouth Mouth Mouth

Anonymous said...

...where there is blood there is fascination.
- J.M.Coetzee

Her pure, and eloquent blood
Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought,
That one might almost say, her body thought.

- John Donne

The future smells of Russian leather, of blood, of godlessness, and of much whipping.
- Heinrich Heine

And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out.
- Herman Melville

And blood in torrents pour
In vain - always in vain,
For war breeds war again.

- John Davidson

Well: the day is a poem but too much
Like one of Jeffer's, crusted with blood and barbaric omens,
Painful to excess, inhuman as a hawk's cry.

- Robinson Jeffers

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
- Gene Fowler

Satan said...

lsd is mine

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fVDGu82FeQ

i've always wondered at women who are afraid of blood. i mean, you gotta deal with it for five or more days a month, you'd think you'd get used to it. blood and GUTS i can understand being squicked by, but a little cut? whatevs.

also, i often ponder how any word can become nonsensical. names especially. they're just bits of sounds stuck together, yet with so much meaning. hmmmm...