For Valentine's Day 2012
That Shirt I Shall Call Grandmother!
she
the world is a river, flowing to the sea;
my love is in his canoe of strong, white birch
following the world far away from me!
he
the world is a camp, in a river’s bend;
my love sings, grinding corn in a stone mortar:
my memory is obsidian!
she
flaked arrows and stone points, hundreds; ev’ry kind
tomahawks and axes: flint, quartz, and jasper;
yet he plays at quoits in my dreaming mind!
he
she braided me a shirt, white cowrie shell color:
I wear her breast against mine; I call it girl…
woman… lover… that shirt I shall call grandmother!
--
notes
a duet for lovers apart. they think of the past, present, and the future of their lives.
4 comments:
This is quite beautiful. Even the simplicity of the shape of the stanzas, the form of the he and she, are pleasing and right. And it captures what is really beautiful about love, and Valentine's Day, which is the longevity, the routine, the then, now, and future. Well done.
Thank you.
I spent a good deal of time wondering whether everything would be clear... contrary to popular belief, I do not like obscurity.
Originally I put "girl...woman...love...grandmother" but I think "lover" in place of love makes it much clearer that we are talking of the stages in a person's life.
...and "playing quoits" is Freudian...
Post a Comment