For a while now, I have been fascinated with the linguistic production of the final consonants in words like "tests" and "trusts". I finally involved it in a rhyme scheme. Since the time it takes to produce the sound is so long, it really brings the line to a close. I want to try using it again where that closure is related to the meaning of the lines it ends. In this poem, I also experiment with consonantal rhyme in lines 1 and 3 of each stanza.
Objectivity 3/16/2012
I balance by a fulcrum worlds out
from earth; testing Archimedes' boasts.
From here I hear each dream and each complaint
and feel each people as she glides, spins, coasts.
I listen as I budge her up and down
And still on more improvements she insists.
She likes the light, but not the heat at noon,
and seasons, but she's dizzy as she lists,
And love but not fear and deep but not dark.
Not just clouds but rain, not just bread but crusts
Not just sleep but fatigue must bear her back
And so I shift and craft our global dusts
And then
With all my lever efforts done in full
I find I have not moved the earth at all.
If we had room enough to stand and lever long,
We would not be too weak for her, but she too strong.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Meditations
I have been holding out on posting until I finished composing something that utilizes what I have been learning in my poetry class this semester. Since this has been slow to materialize, I have in the mean time, some scattered lines on a similar theme that I arranged into a format: problem, turn, and resolution.
In this life you will have trials.
My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
Sell what you have and give to the poor.
My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
Take up your cross and follow me.
I will lead you and you shall not want
when you fall into various trials.
The better potter fills the bumpy bowl
but
The stronger potter breaks the bowl
and spins another new.
Pain is stronger than blessing
but
The Blesséd is stronger than pain
So strengthen my pain
to bless me with weakness
that strengthens the blessed.
Take me and fill me
or
Break me and spill me
My cup runs over.
In this life you will have trials.
My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
Sell what you have and give to the poor.
My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
Take up your cross and follow me.
I will lead you and you shall not want
when you fall into various trials.
The better potter fills the bumpy bowl
but
The stronger potter breaks the bowl
and spins another new.
Pain is stronger than blessing
but
The Blesséd is stronger than pain
So strengthen my pain
to bless me with weakness
that strengthens the blessed.
Take me and fill me
or
Break me and spill me
My cup runs over.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Can Man
I was recently in Dublin and, as with most cities bigger than Bozeman, I was exposed to more people begging on the streets than I am used to. I began thinking more about giving in situations where you don't know how the money is going to be spent (drugs, alcohol?) How do we reconcile Biblical stewardship (Luke 16) with generous giving to the poor (Luke 12)? This poem wrestles with that question in terms of the benefits to the giver and to the recipient of a gift. Maybe it doesn't matter how the gift is spent and the act of giving is the important thing. Is it right to only give to good stewards of money? Is it possible?
I like trying to deal with questions like this through poetry because it is so much a heart issue; reasoned arguments and line-drawing easily skew our conclusions. It's also easy to avoid drawing any firm conclusion with a poem, which can be a danger.
The form of this poem could use a little introduction as well. Each line is a single unit (usually a noun with modifiers). In general, the first and last words of each line rhyme. The words in between either use a similar "palindrome" rhyme scheme, or use assonance or alliteration. Mostly I was trying for palindrome sounding lines. The ear doesn't really pick up on the rhymes of words except the last one, so the rhyming is often not readily apparent. In some ways that was a good thing, because it forced me to spent a long time editing it trying to make it to sound decent. It was an interesting experiment that I probably won't be trying again any time soon. :)
Can Man? 1/16/12
a battered can rattled with pattered coins passers scattered
a line: "anything helps" scrawled on a small sign
a concrete seat beneath a can man's street feet
a plink of a coin in the thirsty throat of an (almost) drink
a beggar warmed by a giver
a can drunk by a man. a man drunk by a can
a man's empty can. a can's empty man
a town man worried, hurried, still unstill, one coin down
two empty men again
I like trying to deal with questions like this through poetry because it is so much a heart issue; reasoned arguments and line-drawing easily skew our conclusions. It's also easy to avoid drawing any firm conclusion with a poem, which can be a danger.
The form of this poem could use a little introduction as well. Each line is a single unit (usually a noun with modifiers). In general, the first and last words of each line rhyme. The words in between either use a similar "palindrome" rhyme scheme, or use assonance or alliteration. Mostly I was trying for palindrome sounding lines. The ear doesn't really pick up on the rhymes of words except the last one, so the rhyming is often not readily apparent. In some ways that was a good thing, because it forced me to spent a long time editing it trying to make it to sound decent. It was an interesting experiment that I probably won't be trying again any time soon. :)
Can Man? 1/16/12
a battered can rattled with pattered coins passers scattered
a line: "anything helps" scrawled on a small sign
a concrete seat beneath a can man's street feet
a town man making rapid rhythm walking sounds
a skeptical pair of staring eyes behind a pair of spectacles
a hurried soul in the worried wind's guilty flurry
a plink of a coin in the thirsty throat of an (almost) drink
a beggar warmed by a giver
a giver warmed by a gift
a hope that a coin well sent is well spent (on soup or soap)
a can drunk by a man. a man drunk by a can
a man warmed by his coin for a can. a can warmed by a coin for a man
two happy men then-
a man's empty can. a can's empty man
a town man worried, hurried, still unstill, one coin down
two empty men again
another giver gives another
Friday, January 6, 2012
You should see him run
I had a bit of writer's block so I asked my sister what I should write about. She suggested (big surprise) ponies. The only time I've approached her appreciation and love for horses is when I've seen them run.
By coincidence (if there is such a thing), this poem and the previous one ended up with (almost) the same form.
For Rachel 12/19/11
An old brown pony stands like Alexander's steed
Now marble-made, bears weight and smells of dirt and feed.
How long has the neck held that head all wrapped in hair,
Stiff from the cold, solid in the open air?
But when it's warm, you should see him run,
Flesh transformed to wings taking flight
on feet, like the fleeting flight of the Great Heron
carrying might, brushing aside the grass like light,
A symphony of grace and muscles, all one.
I'm telling you, when it's warm, you should see him run.
By coincidence (if there is such a thing), this poem and the previous one ended up with (almost) the same form.
For Rachel 12/19/11
An old brown pony stands like Alexander's steed
Now marble-made, bears weight and smells of dirt and feed.
How long has the neck held that head all wrapped in hair,
Stiff from the cold, solid in the open air?
But when it's warm, you should see him run,
Flesh transformed to wings taking flight
on feet, like the fleeting flight of the Great Heron
carrying might, brushing aside the grass like light,
A symphony of grace and muscles, all one.
I'm telling you, when it's warm, you should see him run.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The sun is a morning person
The Sun is a Morning Person 1/5/12
The sun is a morning person, you know.
Every day while all the other stars
are sipping coffee, coughing, moving slow,
and the moon is waltzing in from late-night bars,
he yells across the clouds in red and pink,
"It's morning! I'm here! Wake up sleepy heads!"
The other stars just blink their eyes and think,
"Really? Again?" and crawl back in their beds.
He would make an awful roommate mornings,
I mean talk about overdoing things.
The sun is a morning person, you know.
Every day while all the other stars
are sipping coffee, coughing, moving slow,
and the moon is waltzing in from late-night bars,
he yells across the clouds in red and pink,
"It's morning! I'm here! Wake up sleepy heads!"
The other stars just blink their eyes and think,
"Really? Again?" and crawl back in their beds.
He would make an awful roommate mornings,
I mean talk about overdoing things.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
On Favors
In American culture (and, to my knowledge, to a greater extent in Asian cultures) it is polite to refuse offers. Whether it's the last cookie or a ride home, offers are routinely declined with gracious "No thank you"s. Certainly it's fine to accept these things if someone offers it, but it is polite to decline.
Perhaps we are afraid of inconveniencing the giver, perhaps we just don't want the burden of feeling indebted to someone, or perhaps it's just a habitual reaction. Whatever the reason, it seems strange that it is polite to make offers, but impolite to decline them.
My thesis: it is honorable and right to accept the small daily gifts of others. Accepting offers helps cultivate a habit of giving in the one making the offer. The more someone's gifts are joyfully received, the more they will want to give in the future.
If we reject an offer, we are subliminally suggesting that the offer was not welcome, or we are at least slowly training the giver not to give. Just like in training a child, encouragement of a behavior will create that habit, discouragement will create a habit of the opposite behavior.
Just a thought.
Perhaps we are afraid of inconveniencing the giver, perhaps we just don't want the burden of feeling indebted to someone, or perhaps it's just a habitual reaction. Whatever the reason, it seems strange that it is polite to make offers, but impolite to decline them.
My thesis: it is honorable and right to accept the small daily gifts of others. Accepting offers helps cultivate a habit of giving in the one making the offer. The more someone's gifts are joyfully received, the more they will want to give in the future.
If we reject an offer, we are subliminally suggesting that the offer was not welcome, or we are at least slowly training the giver not to give. Just like in training a child, encouragement of a behavior will create that habit, discouragement will create a habit of the opposite behavior.
Just a thought.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
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