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larryhammerToday, I've been practicing choka, a long pre-classical Japanese form.
At this time of year
at the rag end of monsoons,
when the rains trail off
like the dregs of a party,
when the heat remains
like a sauna stuck on high,
when clear desert air
is a distant memory
like a tale once told
by a comforting granny --
at this time of year
it can be hard to believe
in desert beauty,
in the comfort of dry heat.
Once the sky was wide,
not narrowed by daily clouds --
once mountains were sharp,
not softened by daily rains --
once washes were crisp
roadbeds through hills and bosques,
not mushy sand tracks
still damp from last night's runoff --
once, and once again,
I tell myself, they'll return,
those days of glory
when deep blue has no edges,
when thornscrub is forever.
Envoy
I look at the sweat
on my cold glass of iced tea
and remind myself,
this, too, shall pass in due time
like these drops roll down its sides.
---L.
At this time of year
at the rag end of monsoons,
when the rains trail off
like the dregs of a party,
when the heat remains
like a sauna stuck on high,
when clear desert air
is a distant memory
like a tale once told
by a comforting granny --
at this time of year
it can be hard to believe
in desert beauty,
in the comfort of dry heat.
Once the sky was wide,
not narrowed by daily clouds --
once mountains were sharp,
not softened by daily rains --
once washes were crisp
roadbeds through hills and bosques,
not mushy sand tracks
still damp from last night's runoff --
once, and once again,
I tell myself, they'll return,
those days of glory
when deep blue has no edges,
when thornscrub is forever.
Envoy
I look at the sweat
on my cold glass of iced tea
and remind myself,
this, too, shall pass in due time
like these drops roll down its sides.
---L.
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no subject
Date: 6 September 2009 08:04 pm (UTC)Is there so much heat for the ones we love?
Tell me we both matter, don't we?
Your concluding lines, before the envoy, are beautiful--the notion of deep blue without edges, I like that. And I giggled at your new title for Cranston's book.
Did you see the poem "Rapunzel Considers The Desert" (http://cabinet-des-fees.com/index.php/2009/09/01/rapunzel-considers-the-desert/) in Cabinet des Fées? I liked it a lot and thought of you, Janni, and Pamela Lloyd, out in the desert, over there.
no subject
Date: 6 September 2009 08:25 pm (UTC)---L.
no subject
Date: 6 September 2009 09:04 pm (UTC)I envy poets who can play with different forms and come up dripping beauty. Really envy them.
no subject
Date: 6 September 2009 09:38 pm (UTC)Should I mention again that I envy those who understand how free verse works and so can write it successfully?
---L.
no subject
Date: 7 September 2009 04:59 am (UTC)