image from flickr.com
Summer Enters Stage East
“The summer sun was not meant for boys like us--
we belonged to the rain.”--Benjamin Alire Saenz.
Wanderer moon,
pale, ghostly wisps, turned slightly sideways,
smiling a faintly ironical smile,
yet partially a sneer,
as the edge of your bottom
lip curls up like a cur,
at this brilliant, dew-moistened summer morning,
as the tangerine forehead of the new sun
bursts scorching, like boiling Pomeranian spill,
thrusting itself confidently over the cold shoulders
of the foothills, bathing my back yard in gossamer
golden fleece,
then a detached, sleepily indifferent smile,
because the moon shift is over
and your companion night has fled,
even though you lingered to watch
the dawning;
a wanderer’s smile,
as you pokey-Joe amble, shuffle and tease
with your tiny fading farewell.
If I should buy a shirt your color,
even as Saul’s rising was so searing, it made
the many colored roses in our garden an electric hue,
and the morning’s mandate was very clear--
it would be a Hawaiian shirt day--red, white, & black petals;
and put on a necktie of sky blue--
just thank the retirement gods that as I glance at my tie rack,
it conjures mirth, smiling as I choose none of them for attire.
where would they carry me?
The day promised to be so achingly bright & clear, I knew
I needed to snatch up my camera & head down the Orting
highway to that pasture where the 1935 Ford pick up
sat rusting--for while the light was right, I needed to snap
images of the patina blemishes & broken headlights.
Glenn Buttkus
Inspiration poem, Summer Song by William Carlos Williams
14 comments:
I truly love how you weaved your poetry together... truly wonderful, and I smiled at that tie rack (though it's out of fashion so not even executives wear ties today... ) you have to share the pictures of that rusty old pickup.
You had me at Wanderer moon....how lusciously this is woven together. Unfortunately, here in the old fashioned South, executives still wear their ties and so I had to smile at that tie rack for another reason. Hurry up and take the pics of the old pickup and write a poem from it for us. The day is moving quickly and I don't want you to waste a minute of it.
I love the poem embedded within the poem, and your take is absolutely a tapestry, a fabric woven brilliantly, Glenn!
Love, love, love this, Glen. I chuckled at the thought of the ties--my husband has a ton of them gathering dust in a guest room closet. But your descriptions just sparkle...as does the image you chose.
What a feast of words, Glenn. I'm sure I'll read this again and taste more, and differently.
Sigh.. a poem within a poem.. that too such a magnificent one :D
Beautifully penned (as always)
Lots of love,
Sanaa
Oh, MY. Digging your description of the moon at the beginning, so much.
And then, this:
"the tangerine forehead of the new sun"
STUNNING.
'...as the tangerine forehead of the new sun
bursts scorching, like boiling Pomeranian spill,
thrusting itself confidently over the cold shoulders
of the foothills, bathing my back yard in gossamer
golden fleece...
Wonderful use of colour, Glenn, and allusion to Greek mythology -and a poem within a poem to boot!
Glen this is superb - words and picture all appreciated mightily here.
I enjoyed the "hidden" italicized poem within the poem. Well done!
Filled with all the aspe[[,,zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz/.
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So filled with everyting 'summer'! You have included all the key words to its nostalgic character. Bravo!
I love your vivid description of the sun coming up with such confidence! I think this is one my favorite poems of yours. It tells such a wonderful little story, and then you threw in the photo snapped at the end.
By the way, I almost couldn't find the comment link because the comment before mine has a long blank space in the middle. Very strange.
So much to love...the extra poem within, the vibrant colours, the celestial smiles and smirks. Oh and this line stuck out in a good way...
"as you pokey-Joe amble, shuffle and tease
with your tiny fading farewell"
How charming!
Just finally catching up this morning - over my second cup - and smiling I am at the Hawaiian shirt and retirement's ability to just flick those ties and say nope -- don't need 'em. So much great imagery here -- but I am especially enamored with the choice the voice makes -- to meander out and catch that sun at exactly the right moment for this great pic! That's retirement for you....choices unencumbered by those ties! :)
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