the first ghazal...
May 11, 2007
I should be out working in the yard but I’m “down by cold”, drugged up on cold meds, and getting set to celebrate my thousandth Kleenex, my thousandth blow. Sent out a ghazal as today’s sorbet and it has received some positive feedback. For those not signed up for the sorbets, a ghazal is an ancient Arabic style of poetry that dates from at least the 7th Century. It is written in couplet stanzas, each of which is self-contained – there is no narrative line, but there can be a beautiful emotional thread. The minimum number of couplets is five, and there is no maximum… There is a purposed "disunitly" between stanzas. The reader brings the connecting lines, or dots. The reader makes the poem in between the words.
Even my friend Dean out in Victoria was impressed by the obliqueness of the poem. Patrick P. is pumped about ghazals and I expect he'll try a few too. Here….
the would-be lover opens herself vulnerable, uneasily speakswrites her desire as a simple, lonely truth. Disappears into bated silence.
he is impatient – yearns for the tiny flowers, the small, green victories
– sitting in the big pink chair, warm sun on his face, he hears dripping.
to think so hard about the future – to live it, fill it with expectation
is to court and marry disappointment. Better to drink Shiraz, right now.
but this love is nothing but desire for love. There is no physical memory
No time-stands-still. No remembrance of a scent. It is nothing. Everything.
the falcons duke it out in the sky above downtown – violent, crazy,
and while everyone is looking up, the writer finds a single feather.
1 Comment
1. ink slinger had this to say: May 11, 2007 ~ 16:58 ~ #
This was definitely an interesting piece, Thomas. And, no, that’s not a polite way of calling it crap. It was interesting how it felt very, very different from a lot of your other pieces, but still had a certain “signature” that let me know it was a piece of your work.
I’ve heard of ghazal’s before, but never really knew much about them. After reading your description in the sorbet email today, I am intrigued. I think I might have to try my hand at this form in the near future.