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Sunday, February 6, 2011

REBELLION


Boris Berezovsky playing Chopin's Revolutionary Etude.
If you have time listen on as he plays the Godowsky left hand only variation.


 Only last year the loss was huge.
The change seemed gentle at first
Soothing, though cold, as the rain began.
They sensed the severity soon though
As the deeper cold raced in
To trap them in its icy sheaths.
Then that false beauty, snow, began to stick
While the ice traps allowed no movement.
It claimed their wary independent spirits;
They, who'd survived scores of vacillating winters,
Began to bend, stretching their limbs toward
Something warm, hoping for friction, for freedom.
Caught, those who resisted snapped and broke in two.

This year, it seems, they were ready.
As the rain came, they began to make a clamor
Howling in the wind, scraping against themselves
Shaking the sleet as it fell - empty glass bullets
Shattering on the ground and as the cold
Pushed in with no sympathy bringing that same misery
This time, sap up, their sheilds ready
The snow found no invitation
And slipped from each branch.
This time each sentinel held his ground
And earned their victory.

© Gay Reiser Cannon * All Rights Reserved

43 comments:

  1. I see you finally got this one down...and well worth the effort. I can hear the trees battling the storm, all the stronger for losing the weak and dead bits. Excellent poem.

    And the piano selections was just beautiful, especially the one-handed version--just amazing ability.

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  2. Yay for the trees this year. Ice storms are such a boreal bastard. "Icy sheaths" do have such "false beauty" -- a brilliant sculpture, in day-after-brilliant cold, of beautiful death ... Beauty can be killing that way. The gnarlier resistance to surrendered perfection in the second stanza is a joy. Great poems here. -- Brendan

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  3. Chopin!! I can play this one too! Not the best composer for someone with small hands Gay :) Poem was packed full of wonderful imagary and slow internal rhymes that really drilled the message home. I felt as if I were there, stunning.

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  4. aww - chopin's revolution etude goes perfectly with your rebellion poem gay..
    my fav part was..empty glass bullets
    Shattering on the ground and as the cold
    Pushed in with no sympathy..
    can hear the sound of the battlefields..excellent

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  5. Warmed the cockles of my tree hugger heart!

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  6. Fully and beautifully realized poem, Gay. I especially like the image of sleet as "Empty glass bullets".

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  7. A remarkable Etude and the piece goes well
    the winter really is a battle field of sorts isn't it??

    thanks Gay - for everything

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  8. wonderful write to the music...i can see the battle being waged and glad they won the day this year...

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  9. Second time through reading this because I couldn't listen to the music earlier... love the musical accompaniment to words. Your imagery reminds of uprisings and collective struggles to be free. Excellent writing, Gay

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  10. Rebellion. Revolution. It does seem to be on the wind these days does it not? Great musical selection to start things off with - a little racy bit of Chopin to tingle the nerves before setting forth into the rush of the piece. As Brian said, it is a battle. A beautiful ode.

    One thing. At the end of the first stanza, where you say, "Caught. those who resisted most snapped and broke in two." I would adjust the second sentence a bit. Something like "Most who resisted were snapped and broke in two." As is, it sounds a little awkward to me. I stumbled around it a bit to try and get the sound right.

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  11. Thanks everyone. The wind was up that night of this last storm but not as much as would make the noises I heard. I went outside and though the trees moved slightly, the sound was unlike any I've ever heard - a kind of rumbling thundery wooden sound louder than thunder as the trees seemed to rebel! Had to write it down and wanted the metaphorical allusion to current events.

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  12. Thanks Chris. I appreciate your suggestion. It does make the line smoother and I will use it. I have an odd internal diction and I'm most grateful when such awkward phrasing is pointed out. Gracias!

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  13. A wonderful tale of resilience, the personification of the trees is really very effective.

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  14. Wow!! A great tribute to those who fought for themselves, be it the trees, or be it the people!

    Storms may come and go... we just need to learn to "handle" them...after all, they are the ones that make us stronger!!

    I really like the metaphors in this poem, Gay... inspiring!

    Cheers to victory... but more importantly, cheers to freedom!!

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  15. A cold and bitter battle...I read with the music first and then without and could clearly hear the sound of your winter.

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  16. love it, trees revolt! and please, please protect your precious sap as sugar season is nearly upon us.

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  17. And so they stand victorious over old Man winter's brutal wrath. The picture you have painted with your words is alive with the season...and wouldn't you know it...we're being pelted with a rain/ice/snow mix that has my yard's Mighty soldiers standing at the ready!

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  18. Thanks glad it was successful. Natasha, they say another is heading this way. Oh my- praying over my live oaks - they're stalwart soldiers. Looking forward to a halcyon springtime and back to the beach!

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  19. You got me at that first, superb line, and then carried through in an amazing anthropomorphism of branches. Love this!

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  20. Oh....a killer poem with the music~ Totally enchanting, enrapturing. You can make me believe anything with music and words combined~ LOL~

    You can lead me anywhere....I am a whore for this!

    sleet as glass bullets....the imagery is sharp, like clipper glass blowing across the face and roughened hands of Winter.

    I felt this in my feet,Gay, my freezing feet.

    Marvelous poem.

    Lady Nyo

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  21. that's some busy trees. they weren't buying a load of crap twice. must have been texas trees.

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  22. Hahaha .. they know the elements those Texas trees - cause nothing changes more or faster than Texas weather. It's 50 out there now and is expected to drop to the teens any minute now. LOL.
    Hope they're up for a second round. This one is meant to be shorter! I don't know I'm headed to Florida.

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  23. Beautiful-- I love the "empty glass bullets" of the rain...xxxj

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  24. The combination was so great.. with verse playing the music and the music playing the words.. lovely. I enjoyed both so much...

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2011/02/whispers-another-kind-of-valentines-day.html

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  25. I appreciate having the music to read by, and I especially like the line about "hoping for friction, for freedom." Also, thanks for taking the time to visit me and leave your thought :)

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  26. What a glorious description of the battle won! Gorgeous imagery!

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  27. I got more than one kind of chill from this one. Very nice!

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  28. "Shaking the sleet as it fell - empty glass bullets
    Shattering on the ground..."

    Bravo! The intensity of the storm, the rain, the howling winds and those 'empty glass bullets'...your words feed the music and leave me hungry for more. Brilliant writing!

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  29. Kind and gracious words. I thought of the Ents in the Ring Trilogy as I wrote this. I always sort of think of trees as Ents - that if I could listen correctly they would tell me old and ancient secrets. Glad this one found a home with all of you. Thank you for coming by. Gay

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  30. I really liked the strength I felt at the end. They survived and were able to stand tall. Lovely.

    My One Shot: A Letter to Saint Valentine

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  31. Great imagery and detailed personification of the trees. I hope the tree in my front yard doesn't give in to the snow we got this morning.

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  32. "They, who'd survived scores of vacillating winters,
    Began to bend, stretching their limbs toward
    Something warm, hoping for friction, for freedom."

    Just fantastic. loved the mood & metaphors throughout this poem, and it is wonderful we wrote on similar subjects this week.

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  33. A wonderful ode to the trees, my friend, and holding also a hint of metaphor.

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  34. VICTORY TO TREES! what a wonderful poem. I've loved trees since I was a little kid. Oh, I've fallen out of plenty too. hahah.


    Great work Deary :)

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  35. Such imagery, reminds me of childhood walking through trails with my father, before the developers came. I can feel the sleet like empty glass bullets stinging skin. Beautifully written, thank you for the journey.

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  36. crystalline imagery; you paint a vivid picture of a quiet battle no less life-and-death than gunfire and gore.

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  37. A wonderful piece and the musical acccompaniment is beautiful. "They, who'd survived scores of vacillating winters,/Began to bend, stretching their limbs toward/ Something warm, hoping for friction, for freedom" Love this, feels very much where we are all at by this point in winter.

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  38. "Empty glass bullets" is a stunning image and line- what a wonderful poem!

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  39. I love it when the trees win the war against winter. Since winter sent in the big guns this year, it is quite a victory. Perfect musical match, too.

    Thanks you for your kind words on my post. They warmed my heart.

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  40. Good balance of poetic elements. Solid work.

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