The Straw Hat
and it landed where you are;
you put it on and smiled.
It will rain your mother's ring
which will fall in grass nearby;
admire it unbroken.
It will flood your father's boots
and sweep them in the general flood;
dork-like boats of leather!
It will dawn your childrens' smiles
when you garden, and they see
that funny straw hat,
that unbroken ring,
and hear you laugh at waterfalls
and rivers of your artifice!
pic: micmac
--------
notes
a little early this week.
3 comments:
I like this. The last word is a surprise. Not yet a revelation, but I'll think on that.
Hmmm...interesting...
the line "rivers of your artifice" is sort of created along the lines of the French "feux d'artifice" = "fireworks"....
the *original* meaning was to refer to a landscape of the future that my daughter created herself - by her own devices and artifice -for her children...just as we before, etc. etc. etc.
But it means other things. Once a poem is out in the world, it is the business of mankind to interpret it and to make as many opinions on it as there are people who read or hear it!
I had a run in with a Christian type who had Conservative views once...she wrote a poem about a political topic...I commented...
I was very polite.
However, she said - in the best form of rag-tag political debate - that I should not put words in her mouth!!!!
So I said it was the nature of people reading poetry to PUT WORDS into MOUTHS.
People had to interpret it by the lights of their own lives and understanding.
If you want to debate a point, then write an essay, not a poem - for pity's sake!
Anyway, "artifice" does have a down-side meaning, not referring merely to the work of one's hands and craft, but to a shamming or an attempt to deceive....
Thanks for pointing that out.
As time goes on and I revisit these poems, I might want to change that.
...I think I shall change it...
not sure how yet...
Post a Comment