—Poems and Artwork by Joyce Odam, Sacramento
THE WORLD . . . THE SUN
When the sun came out this morning, it burned a
hole in the sky and spilled its black ashes around,
and whatever dared to look at it was stricken with
stabbing color—rings of nausea—jagged patterns
of blindness. The dark hole of the sky filled with
blessing—the light pouring in—in all its radiance.
When the sun came out this morning, everything
that was too fragile thrived then shriveled.
Be aware that this light is forever. It borders the
cold world and the cold heart alike. It wobbles,
then settles into a golden ring. Bask in it… bask
in it… let it heal whatever can bear such healing.
____________________
CONTEXT
Stark upon the Chinese Elm,
topped for winter,
the large crow
ancient to himself,
does not dispute
the lack of leaves.
He utters his loud cry
from the cut-back tree.
Large by contrast
to the open sky
he makes a target-shape—
or watching sentinel. . . .
at twilight,
even larger,
he uses
the bare tree to advantage
silhouetted sharp
in distorted perspective
hunch-shouldered
balancing . . .
a comic relief to winter . . .
cawing . . . cawing . . .
by turn calling,
by turn listening
he looks sharply across the
crow-owned world
to all the other crows
in their positions.
(first pub. in Poets’ Forum Magazine, 1996)
FULL MOON LAMENT
Today they cart the moon away
for it is heavy
and night is through with it.
It was a pale moon after all…
no match for dawn with its slow insistence
and gray intensity.
The rooster knows.
All night he tried to tell us while we slept.
He crowed and crowed.
How far we have come depends on love
and how much more we need of it…
like this moon…fading into thinnest silver.
(first pub. in CSPS Newsletter, 1995, and
One Dog Press, 1997)
______________________
THE DECEMBER GULLS (Rhyme Royal)
We step outside and feel the first rain come
in soft gray slant and watch a first white gull
drift in on its soft glide—no loud wing-thrum.
We let this be the momentary lull
in our goodbyes. Our winter hearts are full
of love’s sad joy. A few more gulls appear.
We shiver for the ending of the year.
HER WINTER LONELINESS
She comes to us again and howls
through our coldest listening,
moving like a wild ghost-shadow
across the land
where crows and gulls draw from
her energies
in nervous bursts of flight.
She tests our windows as if to enter
but only wants to remind us
of her power.
She is still as old as we remember,
beckoning with her eyes.
Our howling house
throws sparks on everything we touch.
_________________________
RAIN MOODS :
when a bleak rain falls
and there is no winter for it
only a pending season of refusal
*
Who owns the rain,
that night-time blemish on dry sleep?
What sends the rain down?
*
The wet cars shine; they are
quivering, bright with cleanliness
under the faceting street-lights.
(first pub. in Cotyledon, 1998)
SNOW LIGHT
after “Snow Falling on Snow” by Robert Bly
Four white birds press soft against the sky,
freeze there and cry.
.
What is this tale of snow that takes so long to tell;
what will follow it?
.
Stretching beyond all view, the snow continues;
I hear its whiteness everywhere.
.
In the snow-light, I imagine snow-dark, rich
with shadows, shapes and non-shapes.
.
Black trees lean in and mark the light—at night,
how stark they are—they even sing.
______________________
SNOW TRACKS
Here are the patterns of turning: snow tracks where
the road goes two ways—a design of follow.
That someone was here, then gone, is somehow
turned into sadness. This time of day the snow
looks dark: were they too late—did they arrive,
these drivers who turned where the road turned—
these left and right decisions? And then the snow
covered over, and only these remarks were left
for some kind of proving, as if remarks were needed;
and then the passive snow that melted into the
divergent ruts of some old travel. It doesn’t matter now.
The snow fell. The snow fell again. And then melted.
Today’s LittleNip:
SOMETIMES A LOON
Sometimes a loon
with voice of woe
calls out too soon
—in love or throe.
What moves it so—
the shadowed moon?
(first pub. in Brevities, 2005)
_____________________
Our thanks to Joyce Odam for today’s fine poems and pix! For more about the Rhyme Royal, go to languageisavirus.com/poetry-guide/rhyme_royal.html#.VmXz3spNKlM
Our new Seed of the Week is Friends Who’ve Lost Touch. Send poems, photos and artwork on this (or any other!) subject to kathykieth@hotmail.com/. No deadline on SOWs.
____________________
—Medusa
