My friends and I
have come down to the copse to play.
We'll start by climbing trees. As I approach
I see the trees between the spaces, and I see
how spaces go much further back
and higher than the trees. I'm thinking now...
if I could climb the spaces
I could get above my friends -
it's a sort of game I often play:
a total redesign of how this old world works.
The trees get narrower as they rise higher -
the spaces therefore open out.
I stare up through the spaces,
imagining myself
above the canopy and looking down
from what were ash and rowan, but are now
enormous redwoods threatening the sky.
Now they're higher than a boy could climb
and as I look the spaces are the solids now,
the trees are open spaces, dark background
shapes that have begun to shape new thoughts.
The solid spaces and the empty trees
reverse the natural order,
but which is which depends upon my focus.
My friends are motifs on a tapestry,
motionless shapes that I will overtake.
This happened all without my thought -
now that's what I must call surreal.
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15 comments:
Living without self-consciousness. .
Aloha from Waikiki
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Must have been so much fun Dave! Very beautiful verse!
Hank
Love it.
Love it.
If my confusion would be such beautiful, I can accept it.
I'd agree it is surreal, Dave.
"... motionless shapes that I will overtake." Nice, Dave!
i loved playing in the trees as a boy...to look at the same trees right now it is surreal...the overtaking of friends makes me thing on aging as well...how things change...and people pass on...
"shapes that have begun to shape new thoughts."
And you and your friends are one with nature. I loved the way you blended with your environment. I really loved this poem, Dave.
Greetings from London.
Powerful account of what happens without thought, what is beyond thought and most of all before thought. This poem gives tension and restlessness but a healthy restlessness.
I think it is often a good idea to look at what I call negative shapes - in your case the spaces between the trees DAVE. Your poems always make me think.
I like your perspective on this Dave. I enjoy your work as you often see things from a unique slant. Thanks for sharing this.
Very enjoyable and surreal :-).
Short notes again, I'm afraid, and no post tomorrow: the hospital wants me morning and afternoon. So see you all on Thursday.
Interesting to read your different reflections on the influence of negative shapes and the sort of thought that is almost thoughtless, not contrived for a purpose, but freewheeling.
Thank you each and every once again for making the effort to leave a comment. They are all greatly valued.
This is like one of those images where the focus changes the subject.
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