Quite a weekend, I dare say, and off to Montréal tomorrow… hoping there’s wi-fi on the train that works so I can get some online bizness done. But in the meantime, there have been some wonderful moments and images from this weekend that I think I can turn into a few brief pieces. DVerse had a prompt on Thursday about Impressionism and poetry, which I think leads very nicely into the Imagist way of doing things. And although William Carlos Williams isn’t my favorite, he gets into my style a little bit from time to time; also, I finally picked up a big old 550-page W.S Merwin retrospective (light reading for the train), so he might slip in there too.
In the parking lot last night, it was pitch black except for one spotlight, and these birches popping out of the darkness.
Three Birches
I did not expect the sight of them
laid against a shallow pool of night
standing straight up
there along the verge
with tall uneasy skeletons
tipping in blue-black wind
and a hundred elegant fingers
offered up to all that brute silence
like someone was holding fast
these triplet bolts of lightning
but had let the gown of thunder
tumble away
with tall uneasy skeletons
tipping in blue-black wind
and a hundred elegant fingers…really cool images…and easy to see…like your word choice as well…brute silence…nice…
A definite William Carlos Williams influence in there, with the birches the Imagist bowl of cherries or wheelbarrow. Well done.
nice language here. A really nice way of wording here, just flowed off the tongue. especially like the third stanza. Well done. Thanks
really nice imagery, spooky. i like!
tall uneasy skeletons in the blue black wind–Love it!
that is a very elegant sharp piece of work. enjoyed very much thank you for the birches
Reblogged this on Pdlyons's Weblog and commented:
wonderful piece of work by joseph harker
Brian: “brute silence” came out of nowhere, and I just rolled with it.
Samuel: there are days when he just comes along, pokes his head in, and then it’s nothing but wheelbarrows for hours.
Hob: thanks very much!
Mohana: glad you enjoyed it :)
Sara: now that I’m looking back, I might have changed the colors a bit, but I suppose I should just leave as is…
PD: you’re very welcome, but thank the mountain for giving them to me first.