The covered path to the redbrick cloister
was overgrown well before acoustic strings
became the dogma of the pilgrim's skulk,
well before the baroque cake of an April down
replaced the simple brick of the red earth
with a hyacinth path that led to furtive tracing.
To have found in the crispy regulus one last spout of glee:
slated into the broken legato of the paving stones,
a flip-book pareidolia tempered in the flickering crypt.
Between the flat gray panels of kerning cracks
the nascent spouts of lime and white
poked with insouciant crinkled laughter,
though the splatter of up-kicked dew
drenched the parted surplice hem
with the haughty charm of lifted habits.
So we conversed into the third of the seventh sext
but we were not to attain the hoary fourth,
heated though we were by the chill of purple snow,
barred by the thin lack of another slippery lambskin.
The repressed pulse of bloody flats but sharply played
with devoted stops stepwise notched in muffled air,
majora chords to minora chords swollen to a key:
an egressive kiss inside the robed and hooded matin
brought our pearly spittle into proud display,
warmed as we were by the gnostic mist of promise
and a pink fascalia wrapped to prime your chords.
Winged cymbals clashed and fey proclaimed
loudly into that brash and heathen season
when we were the power and the glory amen.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
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Very nice, you set the scene perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI especially like the last three lines, for they were once indeed the power and the glory.
Wow That describe the scene in an awesome way!!!
ReplyDeleteSo... keep enjoying it (amen)
i agree with dulce, eurochild wonderful way of explaining.
ReplyDeleteNice. I like how nature emerges in this. These lines are particularly palpable:
ReplyDelete"well before the baroque cake of an April down
replaced the simple brick of the red earth
with a hyacinth path that led to furtive tracing."
Also, I like how human nature becomes just as unavoidable as "nascent sprouts."
Beautiful scene. It was fun to read!!
ReplyDeleteYou use such powerful language throughout the poem that I can hear, visualize, and truly experience the scene.
ReplyDeleteI love the lines:
"heated though we were by the chill of purple snow,
barred by the thin lack of another slippery lambskin."
yes, indeed-- powerful and subtle imagery .... and detail. I liked the play between your title and your list line.... the holy hoax and the power and the glory... amen!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful words woven beautifully.:)
ReplyDeleteNice one!
Happy New Year.
Your words paint a fractured picture, but none the less beautiful for that.
ReplyDeleteArrgh, it's been too long since I've read some of the great poetry on these here interwebs!
ReplyDeleteThe title alone is a killer, I love it. This is so uniquely American - the wonderfully evocotive descriptions and the tone.
"Between the flat gray panels of kerning cracks
the nascent spouts of lime and white
poked with insouciant crinkled laughter,
though the splatter of up-kicked dew
drenched the parted surplice hem
with the haughty charm of lifted habits."
It's like you just take us and all our senses there.
Thanks Anna for you kind words. I'm glad this worked for you.
ReplyDeleteGerry Boyd, I do believe you should put out a dictionary. You send me travelling in kid shoes, scuffed and youth ten, to simple words like fey, which spiral off into worlds themselves. As for this poem, the word heathen at the last reveals the nature of the title for me. Or perhaps, once again, I have missed it. But missing it or not, you are a helluva read!
ReplyDeletexo
erin
(i do laugh when you xo me as it seems so out of character, but i do so enjoy the chance to chuckle. do you laugh, gerry boyd? do you ever deep down grunt and laugh?)
I laugh all day long most every day. Except on the rare occasions when I'm crying.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad, Gerry. For the laughing and the crying.
ReplyDelete(And of all the genetic disorders to have this one might prove fun! As long as we might develop the ability to forecast and leannnnn. ha!)
xo
erin
...brought our pearly spittle into proud display?! Wow. And powerful last line. Where have you been hiding? Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteHmm. My word verification is "mizeract"...wonder what that's supposed to mean?
Hiding? Why, I've been here all along.
ReplyDeleteMizeract eh?, sounds like Miser Act.
Paging Monsieur Moliere!
Your poetry spurs me on... to keep pushing poetic boundaries...
ReplyDeleteThanks CathM and right back atcha!
ReplyDeleteDear Laikhra: Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. Hope to keep you amused and coming back. Cheers, Gerry
ReplyDeleteperfect scene. Imagery was just great!
ReplyDeletewow look at all these good poems that I was missing until now. Glad I was finally let in to join ur blog. Was having trouble b4.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Marcia M, glad you were able to get in and find something to enjoy. Gerry
ReplyDelete