I SAW HER DANCING
Nothing moves in a straight line,
But in arcs, epicycles, spirals and gyres.
Nothing living grows in cubes, cones, or rhomboids,
But we take a little here and we give a little there,
And the wind blows right through us,
And blows the apples off the tree, and hangs a red kite suddenly there,
And a fox comes to bite the apples curiously,
And we change.
Or we die
And then change.
It is many as raindrops.
It is one as rain.
And we eat it, and it eats us.
And fullness is never,
And now.
Marge Piercy
This week’s editor on the Tuesday Poem hub is Wellington poet and publisher, Helen Rickerby. Sugar Magnolia Wilson, her chosen poet, is from a valley called Fern Flat in the Far North of New Zealand.
"Pen Pal, by Sugar Magnolia Wilson (or Magnolia, as she is generally
known), is a rather twisty sequence of poems, in the voice of a young,
not-so-sweet, not-so-innocent, and actually very real girl. . . "
Today's selection from 'Pen Pal' includes a car crash, mangroves, guinea pigs, a falling meteorite and a 'spell for apology'. Enjoy!
Nothing moves in a straight line. And the wind blows right through us. I think of my grandparents' orchards, of the farm gone from the family for more than 30 years. I think of time, I think if shape-shifters I have know and others that I have been. Why does change feel like winter? xo
ReplyDeleteOh Claire - thank you for posting this. Marge Piercy - I'd kind of forgotten how much I love her work.
ReplyDeleteHave always enjoyed her stuff, too. Have previously blogged some of her poems. Thanks Claire.
ReplyDeleteOh I love this. I love the sense of patience in it - how things change and move and change some more, and how there is a sense of things just beyond reach, but still visible and even touchable... there is something quite full about this, even with that wind blowing through. Lovely images throughout. Must share! Thank you, Claire! I will not forget this small sweet thing.
ReplyDeleteIntense and Passionate. Touched the deepest strings within me. Thank you , Claire :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Nikita!
ReplyDelete