Whys of Wow
(for Susan H-S)
Why does
That sprinkler --
Pieced
together from parts
Salvaged
out of last year’s junk
That
to begin with
Didn’t
cost me nothing
Now
spraying an 80 foot radius
From
a 300 foot well
Through
a 5 horse submersible pump
That
taps a melt-fed aquifer
Shared by too many retirees
That
is baptizing twenty worm-pecking
Red winged Black Birds, one
Pheasant hiding in the tall grass
And my useless lawn
In rainbow –
Take my breath away?
Why does
The neighbor’s
fence --
That
never holds the black and brown
Faced
calves out of my yard
That
threatens electric shocks
If
I get distracted mowing
That
reminds me of other
Black
and brown faces
Pressed to fences
of
Electrified barbed
wire –
Make tears come?
Why does
A voice --
That
speaks before sunrise
In tongues untranslatable
Felt more than heard
Whispered more than spoken
Soft enough at the edges of the
emerging earth
To
be submerged completely
In
the rising hum of bees —
Make me sing?
LFM 5/22/13
I love this poem, Lowell. Am curious about why you framed the stanzas as questions rather than statements. Are you inviting a response from the reader, when your stanza body contains the response? Is this how you invite us to make the connection? What do you think is the effect on the reader of a question in the poem? I know the impulse to write a question, and sometimes realize it was the impulse to write the poem, through doing which the answer presents itself. There's a feeling that one needs to trace the history of that process in the poem. The effect would be different if it were written as a statement, simply. As an exercise, you could rewrite the poem without questions, and compare the result. I find it interesting, because the question (to my mind) softens the poem, makes the poet seem on hand, like a friend conversing; but modern convention seems to be that statements are stronger, more about the poem and less about the poet, more refined. What are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteSandra, thanks for reading my poem and for the great questions. Briefly, I have written this poem as a series of statements, that is, I have started each line with "I don't understand...." The question mode is intended to draw the reader into a conversation about compassion and connection, and those are mysteries of the highest order for me, so they are not rhetorical questions. The poem is definitely about my experience, though it is an attempt to take the reader along with me from a gentle beginning to a depth and intensity that is not obvious. So the question is an invitation. I am thinking your other questions over. It will take me a day or two, but an appreciative response will be forthcoming. Your observations are acute. Thanks again for your response.
DeleteSandra, thanks for reading my poem and for the great questions. Briefly, I have written this poem as a series of statements, that is, I have started each line with "I don't understand...." The question mode is intended to draw the reader into a conversation about compassion and connection, and those are mysteries of the highest order for me, so they are not rhetorical questions. The poem is definitely about my experience, though it is an attempt to take the reader along with me from a gentle beginning to a depth and intensity that is not obvious. So the question is an invitation. I am thinking your other questions over. It will take me a day or two, but an appreciative response will be forthcoming. Your observations are acute. Thanks again for your response.
Delete