LOVE IN THE EARLY WINTER
I open the window
and breathe in so much air
that the rest of the world pauses
through lack of oxygen.
I am gulping in the serenity
of early winter in the morning.
There's no bustle of breeze
so the grasses are still,
and the water race is duty bound
to reflect a frame of land.
This is the best season for light,
which flings itself
in acrobat angles on whatever
takes its fancy.
The view spreads
up the valley and waits
by the hills.
Jenny Powell
from her collection HATS, published by HeadworX, New Zealand (2000)
I couldn't resist posting this poem by Jenny in addition to The Physiotherapist's Piano that appears on the Tuesday Poem hub. Love In The Early Winter is a declaration - an exclamation - to the McKenzie country, a place of high skies, sheep stations, thermal currents, lakes and lupins.
Ah, a poem whose exuberance and restraint one can enter, breathe in, trust. . .
Thank you, Jenny.
Thank you, Jenny.
*
For this week's Tuesday poems, click here then follow the links in the side bar.
I like her breathing in and leaving us breathless.It has a powerful feel to enjoying the day.
ReplyDeleteAn uninhibited, joyous poem.
ReplyDeleteI love the line about the light flinging itself in acrobat angles
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments, and particularly enjoyed the final lines.
ReplyDeleteHi Steve - yes, she does that, doesn't she? Breathes in and leaves us breathless - in the best possible way. I imagine you greet - and celebrate - your prairie landscape similarly?
ReplyDeleteHi Kass - it is, isn't it. Joyous, uninhibited - love at its best.
ReplyDeleteCatherine, the energy and playful exuberance of those lines is wonderful, isn't it. . .
ReplyDeleteAlicia - hello. The last three lines are both expected and unexpected, aren't they? Light does as Jenny so beautifully suggests. It 'spreads. . . and waits.'
ReplyDelete. . . and a message from Jenny. . .
ReplyDelete"Oh this is so wonderful and extraordinary.
Thank you.
J"
The sense of what is naturally wondrous being made more so by love. Do we have access to that heightened state without an other? I choose to believe we do...this is, as Kass says, an uninhibited, joyous reminder. Thank you, Claire, for the message via Rachel. xo
ReplyDelete"I open the window..
ReplyDeletebreathe in so much air
that the rest of the world pauses
through lack of oxygen...
This is the best season for light,
which flings itself
in acrobat angles on whatever
takes its fancy.
The view spreads
up the valley and waits
by the hills"
These lines perfectly fill the frames.
Dear Marylinn
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I believe we can reach that heightened state without an other. Perhaps these states of 'ah', recognition and love are akin to different colours in a landscape; neither better nor worse, more nor less, but simply original unto themselves, ripe for different times? Perhaps the more fully we enter and experience the one (Whether solitarily or in relationship), the more enhanced our engagement with the other becomes? My heart wants to believe that both can lead to 'shimmer and soar'. L, C xo