This form of this poem is taken from my interpretation of what CD Wright was doing in her poem Shallcross. I see it as a kind of pseudo renga development where one line follows the next but does not necessarily relate to the line two previous (vs the same thing with stanzas in a renga), so a kind of winding associative development with some material re-appearing throughout in different context. The idea of hero and clarion call which show up in this poem relates to an Arisa White writing prompt based on a Toni Morrison essay from the early 1980's suggesting writers band together to fight forces that were working against the development of literature at the time.
Heroically Speaking
We are running along the bend
All the humans witness to us
Slingshot the bend
Without us not within us
Newton’s First Law of Motion
A body at rest will remain
Outside forces are acting
As our bodies are transported
The rapidly rising tide
Floating us higher
Above the wide open doors
An airport hanger now empty
Of all thought of all speech
In a kingdom of no horses
In a fiefdom of no promises
All men are stone blind
The snake on the beach
Neither sedulous nor incubus
Can beat the resistance
Formulated answers are not received
Formulated receptions the exceptions
A clarion call if we’ve ever heard one
Winter rain din on this early morning
Would you name this a call to arms?
We see your face across the park
Naming what a hero would say
Is not our job or yours
A competitive place this
Running with scissors a best practice
Some would call an apocalypse
This too shall pass
Single family dwellings out of reach
All of us with cell phones and HBO
Bricks and mortar dying slowly
Taxi cabs who don’t take visa
The collapse of the old order
Within and without any regard
No comments:
Post a Comment