A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Friday, 15 October 2010

Art Is The Axe For The Frozen Sea Within Us

Trying to track down old poems, I was pleased to find this one again, lost in the bowels of my blog. (That sounds rather disgusting, doesn't it?) I know it's far too early to be thinking about spring, but never mind...

aeolian

long months hibernating
then hearing your voice melting snowfall

no axe breaking the frozen sea
but soft wind warming cold river

from dark earth crocus flowers
and cherry blossoms on twisted twigs

black crows strut on black earth
tricking the eye

and coyote howls the world
back into light

7 comments:

Grizz………… said...

Hey, I'm glad you did a bit of exploratory surgery within the blog, as this is simply too good a poem to be forever relegated to intestinal safekeeping!

Seriously, this is really nice. I especially like the latter lines…"crows strut on black earth
tricking the eye/and coyote howls the world
back into light."

The Weaver of Grass said...

Never too early to think about spring Robert.

Ruth said...

I like this very much. I like the restrained power of it, and how the wind becomes the coyote's howl. There is something hopeful in this, about a man's recognition that Nature's gentle ways (not always gentle, I realize) are not man's ways (or woman's for that matter).

Very nice. It's doing me good to read these of yours. Oh, I also meant to say that I like the imagistic - haiku nature of this. I read it before leaving for work on my 35 minute drive, and it worked in me, inspiring me to haiku . . .

George said...

Like Grizz, I'm delighted that you have rescued this fine poem from oblivion. I especially like the last line about the coyote howling the world back to light. The notion of a wild thing restoring us to life is wonderful and thought-provoking.

ksam said...

Ah there's one in every crowd..so I like stanzas two and three. It reminds me of watching the Delaware River slowly coming back to life in the spring, and how gnarly looking the trees are at the moment before the finally burst into bloom! This is also why I LOVE living somewhere where we get winter...it makes the spring so much more special. Folks in the tropics, I don't think they really uncerstand.

Pauline said...

"coyote howls the world
back into light"
creates a marvelous image! I'd always thought of birds singing up the daylight but I quite like the idea of a coyote doing so.

The Solitary Walker said...

I'm glad you all seemed to like the poem, and I'm really pleased people liked different bits of it. Thanks so much for taking the trouble to comment.