Morning saw branches illumined with an inward dawn,
a bulb not yet become a flower of light,
but warming and secret-saying,
wind and whispers breathing the intimations of leaves.
A mid-day ocean in the air,
uncounted crystal seas
suspended in a blink
and the heartbeat of the sun.
Tonight a garden and a velvet star exploded from a stem
beneath a streetlamp with a tin-capped head of golden flame.
It breathed a breeze and blew a perfumed sigh
to the low-lying cloud on the face of the street as it steamed.
My forest thrummed awake and parted naked fingers
to unravel and be clothed in secret vestments
held in palms the winter through.
In the distance off, my train
blasted its roars and whistles, cut the sky
and told me that my love was true.
My summer broke the earth
and freed me utterly from you.
This poem is reallyreallyreally beautiful. "It breathed a breeze and blew a perfumed sigh"
ReplyDelete"Tonight a garden and a velvet star exploded from a stem"
"wind and whispers breathing the intimations of leaves"
"A mid-day ocean in the air,
uncounted crystal seas"
Gorgeous imagery. I love how you describe in such purposeful detail what is happening. I can never get over how well you take something very normal and ordinary that most people would portray in a boring way, and make it incredibly meaningful and wonderful and interesting. All of a sudden, the smallest, most usual phenomenon becomes something to really look at and consider carefully. It's amazing to see how you appreciate such little, but really wonderful things. It makes me want to learn how to see things that way too.
My only critique is that the train metaphor (I think it's a metaphor, I don't really understand that part at all) abruptly interrupts the image of the flower and it seems disconnected from the rest of the poem. (another thing you could maybe explain to me in person?)
It's beautiful. I love it, and I love the perspective it shows.