Saturday, November 13, 2010

Snavely Ford Trail, Antietam Creek, 2010

There is a place so oddly named though bloody stained
it does not roll easily from unschooled in local history lips
as other embattled places that have been less sadly drained
by a curving creek that perfectly mimics an unplanned trip.

What rolls behind is green, brown, and pastorally sound
and the trail from the bloody bridge to the bubbling ford
is quiet and sun-dappled from the banks to a rising ground-
silver pools leave half-leaved trunks through mirrors pored.

Walking noiseless as possible despite the autumn crisps reborn,
still no way not to flush the rutting stag to quickly sprint uphill
or cause the sleek grey owl to spring and sweep across the corn
as the nascent oxbow turns against the muddy banks and spills.

Around the yellow bend other magic may suddenly appear
but, ahead and alone in hazy fall, it's wonderfully quiet in here.

5 comments:

  1. Beautifully constucted. The form works very well with your unique touch.

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  2. @Akeith: I think I am going through a phase of sorts. Ha!

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  3. you know, the three most recent posts, including this one, are just gorgeous. not only the form-- you certainly know how to swing a sonnet-- but also the connectedness across them, and the way you use softness even though the subject matter need not be... soft.
    wonderful.

    i could not help but remember that visitor you had awhile back who intimated that your work was, shall we say, unsophisticated. i like all the stuff you do-- that's the beauty of open forums like this-- yet these sonnets of yours remind me of how artfully you work and what a fine craftsman you are.

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  4. @Harlequin: A sincere thanks. Ah, yes Victoria what's-her-name. I did wonder if subconsciously that's part of the sonnet run but I think not. Since I'm on the road, I have broken with my usual secret process for writing poetry and am kicking it down a notch and writing more straight-forwardly. They're sort of counter-points to my travel blog and, for me at least, mere exercises in a form just to keep in practice. I glad you and others like them.

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Yes?