Another poem influenced by Cummings' style.
A little elser 11/25/10
The tired almostcorpse
the sterilized sheets into slowly settles
whiter hair unmoved since
yesterday's
yesterday
and
tomorrow's
tomorrow
(like everyday's tomorrow)
will wake to (not) her
captured by a dream (without waking)
siphoned in from braintubes around the bed.
after tedious airdead minutes a
sudden
empty
moment...
the room is one soul lesser
but to the (tearbottled) eyes
beside the bed
just the same is
the white room
the white is
just the same.
But somewhere else
(a little elser)
is a little whiter now.
I confess I don't really know what's going on, except that someone died (right?)
ReplyDeleteThat "someone" is an old woman. I wonder what the place "somewhere else" is.
ReplyDeleteI'm still experimenting with elements of Cummings style, so I may be teetering on the edge of nonsense. :) But yes, an old woman dies in a hospital ("braintubes around the bed", "sterilized sheets".) In the second two stanzas, I was trying to capture the idea that the moment right before her death and the moment immediately after appear exactly the same, but actually, an immense change has taken place. The white hospital room becomes one soul less, and somewhere whiter/elser (heaven) becomes one soul more or one soul whiter (that is to say, brighter). I hope that clears it up a little.
ReplyDeleteThat clears up a lot. I thought of the Heaven, but the concept of a "whiter" Heaven didn't quite get to me (now it does). Instead, I thought of the heart(s) of those who were still living which were now changed, one way or another.
ReplyDeleteI found this poem quite interesting.