Let's talk about "Songbird in the Village" by Sequoia Oliver Mercier...
This layered poem reminds me of birth because of seeds, young love because of the mention of one long Summer and above all that innocent stroll I made to the park, because birds traced the way. Oh it's almost too long ago for me to remember but possibly too magical to forget...my very first kiss. It was in the park with a young man, who will go nameless. He too prayed for rain and pleasant wisdom in June. Maybe that's why it began to sprinkle and he attempted to get closer to keep me warm, of course.
And nearly everyone can relate:
I fall up
into your eyes
when I least expect it
loose and unrehearsed
curl myself
in cumulus cloud
of your hair
pray for rain
Pleasant wisdom
on this June nite
You see he was a musician and quite the swooner but the song in this poem comes from a winged ventriloquist. I imagine these song birds must have been loud and they saw an undeniable sign that someone was in need of a dancing partner. Yet we've all been aware of seduce shakeray and the shimmying in chest and resistant.
Like Mercier when love or lust shows up, many of us hold back.
This is why I appreciate the line:
I hold reservation
gripped between my toes
and parallel reality
But the author obviously does a little doce doe
In the moment or she's seeing a former lover and reminded of their past, given the stanza
I know this mouth
one long Summer
when time was counted
by the moon
I filled it with breath
And pieces of new sky
So whether she's dreaming in her parallel reality or kissing him the second time in a world beyond, either way she's punch drunk on love and a little birdie knows why. This week's topic is shaping a poet and if it came down to this one poem the shape of Sequoia Oliver Mercier is round. The shape would be a circle because of the mentioning of curling into a cumulus cloud of hair, music circling the head, the moon and yes the deepest line:
purple sun rises with a peace sign in his mouth....
Yeah this is a full circle moment and a full circle poet
Yeh you took it and us on that ride. Your poetic response creates a circle around the outside of the poem
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a poem having a shape in a literal sense evokes the concept of chronology for me. A circle, for example, leads to the circle of life, the full circle of love as an experience that is repeated for each and every person... A linear poet would seem to represent linear aspects of reality, with a beginning and a neat progression, but the idea of Mercier as a circular poet portrays a dimension of endless universal emotion in her poetry.
ReplyDeleteElmaz and Casey,
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that I was suppose to talk about what shape the poets writing....but looking at the literal shape of the poem was fun!
Thanks for playing along with me. And Casey I like your linear concept. Sounds interesting. Maybe we've created a new way to do a close reading. What would be the terms for this? Is s/he circular or linear in his or her writing style?
There is something universal about circles at least in this galaxy after all, Have you ever seen a square planet?