Pages

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Destiny



April's perfection
            breathing essence of strawberries
                        the maple showers me

a stream of samaras
            pirouetting on the breeze
                        they dance along the garden walk

then I encounter a crowd
            women knitting, embroidering  
̶  with children playing
                        and men discoursing the day’s events

I struggle to pass by
            the group surrounds me  
̶  squeezing closer
                        no gaps to move through

the chartreuse grass glistens 
  ̶   dew dressed
           Looking up, I see only trunks of trees
                        tight   forming a stockade

I look skyward to see a leafy canopy
            stretching high above
                        I seem to shrink

streams of light filter through leaves
            lifting me as though I were
                         a mote of dust

suspended in a dizzying rise
            my heart pounds   Feeling the rush
                       I ride a single beam

an eternity passes
            I am floating toward
                        infinite blueness

suddenly I see a vast shawl
            of iridescent lace
                        spread among the branches

exquisite in design
            jewels caught at the cross threads
                        at once I stick

my redness spreads
            I am my beating heart
                        a throbbing ruby

encased
            glittering by sun
                         glowing by moon

endless seasons pass
            I freeze pink
                        I melt cerise

one autumn
            as the foliage echoes
                        my crimson song

a cardinal
            plucks me from the web
                        and we fly free

Originally composed for the article on Beat poetry; however having second doubts about it filling the bill although it is rather surreal.

©  Gay Reiser Cannon * October 9, 2013
           All Rights Reserved


39 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful. The part "looking skyward a leafy canopy stretches high above I seem to shrink" brought back memories for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely, Gay. The colors and the imagery with which you associate them work beautifully.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Kathryn and Maureen. I published this expecting to have my article on the Beat poets up tomorrow. However, it's been delayed until next week. Not sure if this qualifies as a beat poem. At least I have a little time to think about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. oh wow..i love it gay...love the images... the cardinal in the close there...plucks me from the web..flying free... so awesome...oh and i loved the essence of strawberries as well.. can feel it on my tongue...smiles

    ReplyDelete
  5. Very graphic--wonderful imagery and use of color.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lovely images here, Gay. Definitely unreal /surreal. I felt as if I was floating right through your poem....Smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Loved the 2nd stanza passionately; /a stream of spinnerets/pirouetting on the breeze/they dance along the garden wall/ my first reaction to the tree-borne shawl of lace was it was a sticky spider web, and nature was going let a wicked arachnid plunge your lovely reminiscences into a different kind of food for thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well I've been toying with spider imagery for another poem lately. I'm pretty sure spinnerets are NOT the little flying seeds sprinkled by maple trees but it seemed an apt name and a pointer to the symbolic spider (whose spinnerets do spin the silk of spider webs) spinning the fantastical web in the trees where souls become their birthstones until they are freed (or somehow digested I suppose.)

      Delete
  8. really lovely personification...our making yourself it..and the transformation through the seasons until your time...rather dreamy to me....smiles....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Brian - it was meant to convey that in a surreal sort of dream like passage. Glad you caught it. I fear vagueness may reign over ambiguity here. I never know if my poems do what I want them to. (sigh).

      Delete
  9. Such wonderful array of images... I could feel the sensations and the ending is just perfect. :-)
    -HA

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your imaginarium is radiant with color, light, and heart, beautifully done! I am really looking forward to your article.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anna. One thing I noted about the Beats is they were poetically informed, and most well educated. They did not disregard classical poetry, or classical ideas regarding poetry nor did they abandon metaphor altogether. What struck me in many of the poets I read was their beautiful use of language as well as other poetic tools - and I wanted to use bright words to describe a very dark experience creating a sort of paradox at the center of it. Not entirely sure if it succeeded.

      Delete
  11. This is just awesome poetry.. As I know nothing about beat-poetry I have no idea it it fits the bill.. it's surreal like a dream (though the colors could indicate hallucination).. I look forward to Thursday...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Björn. Hadn't planned the hallucination angle - but clearly it can be looked at that way. ..ha I might have succeeded after all...sort of like "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"...that wasn't meant to be hallucinogenic either but we read it that way, didn't we?

      Delete
  12. Strong imagery and a good sense of language Gay. >KB

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well my metaphors may be muddy - but it's always imagery for me. Thanks KB

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the images here, Gay. Beautifully penned.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Not being familiar with the Beat poets, I can't comment as to whether this fits with their style, but it is certainly image rich, dreamy and occasionally disturbing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Very dreamy & surreal specially this part:

    my redness spreads
    I am my beating heart
    a throbbing ruby

    From what I have read of them, I think some of them dabbled in drugs, meditation like zen. Don't know much about it so looking forward to your post Gay ~

    Grace

    ReplyDelete
  17. transporting, Gay, ethereal and personal ~ M

    ReplyDelete
  18. love the iridescent lace shawl complete with jewels & "floating toward infinite blueness," but most of all, the cardinal plucking the poet free... to fly - leaves me longing
    beautiful poem

    ReplyDelete
  19. As I read this I felt the fragmented pieces of a journey lifting into another realm of awareness..really enjoyed this..wonderfully written..

    an eternity passes
    I am floating toward
    infinite blueness

    ReplyDelete
  20. A ravishing read Gay! totally seductive and engrossing. spellbinding, drawing me in as I can feel the excitement building and flowing with your imagination racing to the next delicious point of wonderful reference. so much colour and light! making for a real treat and a dazzling display of poetic plumage.

    all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I absolutely Love this! I could see all the scenes! :-) Very well done!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Just a note - the maple seeds or maple keys or "what I called spinnerets" are actually called samaras. Thought I ought to research that little bit of information for myself. Ha!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Beautiful imagery and phrasing Gay, each line a diamond. Thank you for such a delightful read.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey Gay, hadn't seen this-- it is very surreal, and very cool, I love the transformations through the women knitting--as if getting down to every stitch. K.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Love it. Love the parallelism of the spider web and women knitting. Björn is spreading rumours that Thursday's post is going to be a treat...looking forward to it! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Love this. So well crafted to read and visually appealing as well.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Beautiful images! Fly on!

    ReplyDelete
  28. So is how time flies...... Awesome personification here

    ReplyDelete
  29. Such exquisitely painted words!

    ReplyDelete
  30. This is crazy good! I love the form too. The cascading tercets is just brilliant. Your narrative walks downward leading us through the place of your musing. Two thumbs up!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. endless seasons pass
    I freeze pink
    I melt cerise
    Gosh, golly! What a trip. I read as if mesmerized. I believe that some of the beats led people to see way beyond the dark little reading rooms into spring again, then to fall.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I want to thank each of you for your comments. It was gratifying to know that you thought the poem filled the bill and succeeded. Appreciate your taking the time to read and comment here so much!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. A mote of dust, in elegance find,
    such rare heights in heated climb...
    And if to fall near heart of mine
    let it be Lord, of Autumn kind...

    What a truly lovely poem... any of life's walks are better when ending in Autumn....!

    ReplyDelete
  34. I love this, the chartreuse grass covered in dew...lovely. It reminds me very much of paintings by Australian artist Fred Williams with those trunks of trees forming a tight stockades...very nice indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  35. A beautiful visual journey towards the light .

    ReplyDelete