Pantoums and COLUMBUS at 4AM
October 31, 2008
Pantoums are amazing. I was introduced to this form by Wendy Morton on a recent trip to Sooke/Victoria BC. This is my first attempt. The revising and editing work on COLUMBUS at 4AM continues…it is so close to being done…I am both excited and frightened. To say good bye to this book, to send it out into the world, makes me sad…and worried. Will it point and look both ways when it crosses the street? Will it talk to strangers? I want it to talk to strangers…but, oh, this metaphor does not work. I want this book to speak to strangers and to get into cars and buses, and trains and airplanes and beds, with millions of strangers….Ha! I want it to be dangerous, and risky, and entertaining, and thoughtful, and slutty, and fun. It ought to flirt with thousands of imaginations. It ought to make you cry. And laugh. I think my apprehension is just selfishness. I don't want the process of making it better to end.
In Sooke; an un-rhymed pantoum
In the woods I am small.
Most of these trees are my elders.
In 1800, I was just an almost-projected, barely-imagined, thin line.
Two-hundred years ago, some of these trees were already tall.
Most of these trees are my elders.
This land rises abruptly away from the sound of the ocean.
Two-hundred years ago, some of these trees were already tall.
The ground is soft – the air, humid and green and grey.
This land rises abruptly away from the sound of the ocean.
I do not take the sound of the ocean for granted.
The ground is soft – the air, humid and green and grey.
This high-plains dweller is quiet, humbled and awed.
I do not take the sound of the ocean for granted.
Listen, a chipmunk, an unhappy raven, the shushing ocean, my heart.
This high-plains dweller is quiet, humbled and awed.
Somewhere in this undergrowth forest bottom, there is a prayer.
In 1800, I was just an almost-projected, barely-imagined, thin line.
Somewhere in this undergrowth forest bottom, there is a prayer.
In the woods I am small.
2 Comments
1. Adam Snider had this to say: Oct 31, 2008 ~ 13:40 ~ #
Pantoums, eh? I’ve never heard of this form until I read today’s sorbet. Very cool form. Even though I don’t use it much, I’m a big fan of repetition in poetry. I may have to experiment with this form.