Friday, October 16, 2015

Jeremy Seligson writes



1.


R

A

I

N


D

R

O

P

S



One

            afternoon


                        while

                                    you

                                                sit


            on

                        a

                                    stone


the

          mountain

                              (and

                                                your

                                                            hair)

                   

                    stands         

                              up



                                        Grass

                              and

                                        flowers


                                    lean

                        over


                                    your

                                                toes


                                                            as

                                                                        if

                                                            on


                                                a

                                    river

                                                of

                                                             air



                        Breeze

          pecks


                    your

                              cheek


                                                picks

                                                            you


                                                up       

                                                            then


                                    flings

                                                you


                        into

                                    the

                                                sky

                                   

  

You

            see


                        a

                              child


                                        with

                                                  angelic


                                                            eyes

                                                            and


                                                golden

                                    hair


            She

makes


            you

                        cry



“I’ve

            been


                        wanting

                                    to

                       

                                                tell

                                                            you


                                                                        about

                                                                                    it …


how

          I

                    vanished

                             

                              in

                                        clouds ~


            only    

                        wind

                                                sloughing

                                                                        through …


                        ~ how

            the

                        angel


                                    caught

                                                me


                                                            and

                                                                        shouted,


                        ‘Go

                              back!’”



                        I’ve

                                    been

                        waiting

                                   

                                    to

                                        talk

                              to

                                        some

                                                  one


                                        about

                                                            it


                        for

                                    a

                                                long

                                                            time”



Scarlet

          and


                    gold

                              moss


                        about

                                    brown ~

                                               

                                                try

                                                            as


                                                            you

                                                might


                                    can’t

                                                find

                                                           

                                    a

                                                way

                                                            down



                                    Up

                        above,

                                    ivy

                                                walls


                                                            ~ their

                                        shadows

                              fall

                                       

                                        upon

                                                            the

                                                                        ground

         


                                                Gold

                                                            and


                                                                        scarlet

                                                                                    moss


                                                            about

                                                                        brown

                                                                                                walk

                                                                                                            you

                                                                                                                        down


                                                                                                            to

                                                                                                                        a

                                                                                                                                    pond



                                    Rain~

                    drops


                                                cir~

                                                            cles


                                    of

                        drop~

                                    lets


                                                                        cir~

                                                            cles

                                                                        and


                        circ~

                                    lets



each

            spreading


                                  thous~

                                        sands


          of                                    

                    cir~

                              cles


while

            filling

                        out

                       

                                                invisibly,

                                    the

                                                pond


Not

            just

                        watching


                                    water~

                                                drops


                        over~

                              lapping

                                               

                                                            also,

                                                                        hearing

                                                                                    each

                                                                        splash


                              Sweet

                                                little

                                                            chimes


                                                                      of

                                                                                night


2 comments:

  1. At last, rhymes! It's entrancing. And it takes so much time to read it, having to scroll down, which makes it - I can't find the words - cloudlike, mysterious, hazy, compelling...I don't know what, but something positive. You are a mystic of a different sort, but a mystic - a romantic, ecstatic, nature-mystic.

    I wonder how I would react if it were written horizontally, as prose (or something like).

    ReplyDelete
  2. In Jeremy's previous contributions I never quite knew whether they were short gnomic expressions of the ineffable, or whether they should be combined into a longer poem; but this time there seemed to be a common theme and leitmotifs, so I stuck my neck out and published it (or them?) all together. Of, course you can read it either way, as a single poem or as a series of very short ones.
    (There was also a photograph of rain dimpling a fish-filled pond, but I couldn't get it to transfer. My deepest apologies to Jeremy for the omission.)

    ReplyDelete

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