It is a little late for her birthday, but I have written a
poem for Mom. That is nothing new. I
often have that inclination when those times of the year come around that make
us reflect upon things past. This poem
is a bit different from others, though. It is written in the style of a
wonderful poet named Brian Teare in his
last book The Empty Form Goes All the Way
to Heaven. What is different about
it – for reasons I don’t need to go into here – is that it can be read in more
than one way. It can either be read down
as poems usually are or it can be read across.
The interesting thing to me in Teare’s poems is that if you read them
both ways, first as a poem going down, and then as a poem going across, you really
end up with two very different poems. I
don’t have Teare’s skill so I’m sure how
affective it is in this case, but I think it kind of works. I also find it helpful in poems like this
once I have read it silently to read it out loud (or at least out loud in my
head). In any case, here is the
poem. Let me know what you think.
Portrait: Mom
the ice-covered gate posts frozen
in her memory
long gone the
South Dakota farm
will always be a part
of her youth
of her but now instead of ice
she dreams of the sunny California skies and
the days with children gathering gladiolas in
the garden
singing in the car fill
her head
on the way to church she
remembers
when her hands were not lying
motionless
wrinkled soft
gray sand on the beach
and the place she called home so warm and
welcoming
really was full
of life
2 comments:
Mike thanks for writing and sharing this poem. I think it is an interesting way to write a poem and certainly more challenging then just straight forward. The poem definitely takes a different path depending on which way you read it. Both evoke a sense of joy and sadness but with a different emphasis.
Thanks, Ed. I am glad that you were able to read it and get sense of the way that the poem was supposed to work. You never know when you try something new.
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