A poem for dverse
Peace, the flame-crackle,
the yip yip of a small owl,
the vast dark, pressing.
Starspots and spangles,
embroidered light—
the Milky Way, a sash and so silent.
Light and dark
and the unseen, whispering trees,
and all this space,
but nothing between your hand and mine,
the pole star clutching.
We never lose the North.
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I truly love the space, but nothing between the hands… and the true north in the end.
I think there are going to be a lot of stars and night sky poems this evening.
I think there might be a rose or two as well… think I had some dark stars in mine.
You did. Now I’m going to have to write a poem about roses, and maybe a dark star too.
One of last years best records was blackstar I think… which says that even a single word can be a metaphor… it’s called a kenning and was used a lot in old nordic poetry. We had a prompt on that some years ago.
I’ve only tried a kenning once. Much as I love things Nordic, I didn’t get on very well with it.
Bowie’s Blackstar Bjorn?
Yes!
That is such a masterful work. Just like that bluebird, ain’t that just like me? (Sorry Jane for highjacking your thread for this little Bowie homage, but we just can’t resist it, can we Bjorn? hehe
I love David Bowie. I wave to him every night when the sky is clear 🙂
Fantastic!
Sometimes he waves back 🙂
Him and all the young dudes.
There’s quite a constellation of them.
‘Peace, the flame-crackle’ ignites this poem, Jane, and then the fire takes hold and it burns away on its own! I love those ‘Starspots and spangles’ and the strong use of sibilance, which provides the sound effects for the Milky Way. My favourite lines:
‘…nothing between your hand and mine,
the pole star clutching.
We never lose the North.’
I’m pleased you like it Kim. One of those poems written with half-closed eyes 🙂
I know those poems 😔
🙂
Jane, you and Kim both wrote lovely symmetries of darkness – owls – stars- shadows. I think that is wonderful. Kim was coming into acclimation with it in hers, you are enveloped in lovely night already on yours. A kind “witch” beckons to the acolyte. Sound like a nice night out indeed. 🌌
Night is beautiful. It’s when we see how vast the universe is and have puny we are.
metaphors unfurling into more metaphors. I love the atmosphere you create here.
Thank you! I like poems that have bones to be picked out of them
So long as we know our true North, all is well.
I think that’s true 🙂
“the Milky Way, a sash and so silent”…..like the internal rhyme, that “il” in Milky and silent…JIM
Thank you!
Dark and dusky come the words tonight, tumbling out of black holes and moon shadows. But happily, your poem had a tingle of romance and hope as a capper.
Thanks Glenn. I’m on an optimistic streak.
I liked the idea of the Milky Way being a silent sash…
Thank you 🙂
Nice description: “the Milky Way, a sash and so silent”
Thank you 🙂
In all the vast universe, you have one another, and it is solid. Sweet.
It’s the best thing to have probably 🙂
I should think so
🙂
I love your opening lines of the vast dark space, and then the change of perspective, to the hands and focus on North.
Thank you, Grace 🙂
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Yes, I admire the embroidered light sash of the silent Milky Way.
Thanks Lynn 🙂 I tried to see it better with binoculars last night, but there are just so many stars it’s impossible.
anything you write about the night and its sky s always gorgeous Jane, this is no exception, you bring the night to the sky and uncover all it’s secrets to finding a solution
I’m glad you like this one, Gina. It’s one of those poems that flowed out like that and needed no changes. Those are special 🙂
it is certainly so magical when that happens and yes this is one of those really write and no edit types that seemed to have been painstakingly crafted, starting a poem or story with an emotion has tremendous depth
I wonder if that isn’t how most poems start, or should start, as a deep emotion.
i do think some start with a need to describe and event and that can be equally powerful as an emotion
True, but it’s often what the event means that is the driving force, so it’s mixed up with an emotional response. otherwise it’s like a news announcement.
some news announcements and announcers can get pretty heated up too Jane! so yes there is a lot of emotion involved even when presenting facts.
They tend to try to keep emotion out of it here. State broadcasting can’t come over as partisan.
it is slowly moving that way for us here after decades of a single party rule.
I think it’s much healthier if we can trust the public service broadcasts just to present the facts. Commentators from all shades of opinion can comment, and because we know they are just commentators, we can choose to agree or disagree with their interpretation of events,
it does take some sifting on our part too, we all have our preferences and support different parties and leaders.
That’s why it’s simplistic of to say that if only people weren’t being ‘mislead’ by the media they would see through the lies of their leaders. People choose the news they want to hear, and believe the interpretation that suits them best. I don’t believe that people are basically good and honest and altruistic, and if they behave appallingly it’s because they’ve been ‘mislead’. There are genuinely horrible people around 🙂
i will have to agree with you though i don’t like that i feel this way, i want to believe that people are good but they end up proving me wrong i give up
Some people are heroes. I think we have to say that is enough, and hope the heroes inspire enough of us to follow them 🙂
Those poems are special, indeed, Jane! I love the sash of the Milky Way and ” and all this space,
but nothing between your hand and mine,”
The stars are so beautiful at the moment with no moon 🙂
I agree that “nothing between your hand and mine” gives form and tenor and joy to the tremendous inversions in this poem. The immense Milky Way becomes asmall sash, the clasped hands becomes the entire sum and focus of the universe. Wonderful Jane! 🖤
Thanks Lorna! I’m so glad you ‘got’ it 🙂
🙂
I like embroidered light very much, I was looking at Hubble pictures this morning , hand in hand with my beloved and we spoke about the way the lens on most cameras, including our eyes, superimpose crossed beams of light on the star’ core. Artists, I noted, have been depicting stars this way for years, including in embroidery. I’m always so – interested,/amazed/gratified when life creates these synchronicities- nature’s metaphors I suppose!.
Yes, that is strange now you mention it. The earliest representations of stars are in the form of points of light. I’d assumed that we see things completely differently to the earliest people, but apparently not.
Hi Jane. Really enjoyed this gaze into the night sky. “So silent” … “and all this space”… :-). TYFS
…rob from http://www.image-verse.com
Thank you, Rob. Glad you liked it 🙂