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Monday 26 September 2011

Forgotten totem


I am indebted to Jenny Wolf of Jenny Wolf Travel Writer for this prompt. She posted on her blog a photograph of this sculpture which she found apparently discarded and forgotten at the old Commonwealth Institute. I have taken it out of its ivy-clad environment and imagined it somewhere in the Cotswolds (where I recently sojourned for a few days). There it confided in me thus:-

Forgotten totem?
No, not quite.
A mis-conception, if you like:
a dead end somewhere on
your evolutionary trek,
your spiritual excursion
from Eden to
your ultimate extinction.

Too much perception,
the blunderbuss approach.
Arrays of organs:
synapses firing everywhere
and everywhere at once.
No organised reception.
Uncoordinated, lacking
guidance from the centre.

Always naive, you lapped
it up, saw what I described
and wrote it down
in that big book of yours.
My muddled vision...
you floundering in my wake.

Here, try it now,
and see what you can make of it.
Just see me as I'd see myself
if I were you
with all my gross
impediments - which I
in spirit passed to you,
your forebears, long ago.

17 comments:

andy sewina said...

Hi Dave, your sculpture has a wonderfully strong poetic voice.



btw, the word verification is : unsour

jabblog said...

It does us good to reflect how recently we were far less sophisticated than we suppose we now are. Clumsy sentence but I hope you understand what I mean.

kaykuala said...

Dave,
A totem pole that had seen better days, to represent Man having exited Eden and ran the gamut of existence. All in your beautiful verse!

Hank

Momo Luna S!gnals said...

What a great, wonderful poem! It gives the photo another depth.
I also love the photo, the totem really seems lost somehow....

Sweet greetz to you!

Mary said...

Interesting voice you gave to the sculpture. I would say the 'lost has been found.'

The Weaver of Grass said...

Oh bliss Dave. Superb photograph and lovely poem to go with it - and easy type to read. What more could any woman ask?

ArtistUnplugged said...

What a voice for the silent, discarded one.

Mishilicious Mishi said...

wow! the pic and the poem go hand in hand! amazing:-)

Anonymous said...

Very nice!

Windsmoke. said...

A very wise looking totem with wise words to match :-).

Jenny Woolf said...

Thank you, Dave - it is a wonderful poem and I am honoured that you've used my photo as a prompt!

Surbhi Bafna said...

you are right.. nothing is forgotten. It's just the difference of vision. :)

Dave King said...

andy
Hi, and a warm welcome to the blog. Much thanks for the kind comment - and the word verification, these are a (nearly) constant source of amusement to me.

jabblog
Not such a clumsy sentence, and expressing a oft-forgotten truth, I think. Something we ought to recall more often when we are tempted to condemn nations still trying to catch up.

katkuala
Mmm... a sort fo portmanteau story, I suppose. Thanks for the comment.

Momo Luna
Thank you for those kind words. Yes, I was quite surprised how "lost" the totem looked when I removed him from his former environment. I hadn't expected that.

Mary
Great take. I go for that! Thanks!

The Weaver of Grass
So glad the revamp does what it was meant to do! Thanks for saying.

ArtistUnplugged
Guess I have a soft spot for the silent and discarded - always have had.

Mishi
Good to have you visiting and thanks for saying. Glad you liked it.

unsungpoet
Thanks.

Windsmoke
Lovely comment. Thanks.

Jenny
Thanks Jenny. The poem would not have been but for your prompt. The image was so inspiring. Thanks again.

Surbhi Bafna
Hi and a very warm welcome to you. Thanks for your visit and for the comment. Great to have it.

Momo Luna S!gnals said...

But not sad lost, more in a curious way, like in time i sure will belong here.....

Tigerbrite said...

Love this too.
atednes, what sort of word is that?
They obviously heard me? Now I've got another... rulat.
And another.... matim
Here we go again proleack

Rose said...

Amazing image - floundering in your wake indeed - magnificent!

Dave King said...

Momo
Much belated thanks for your comment - it deserved an earlier reply.

Tigerbrite
Pass, I'm afraid.

Rose
Thanks for such a generous comment.