Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Sunday, August 11, 2013

Sunday Night Poetry





AFTER, THE GOD


Enter a young girl, neck 
arched against black loam. 

History moves in quick strokes, 
in light-bending pools. 

Deneb in the Cross falls down
upon the beating wings.  Rapid 

breath leaps at animal stroke and shudder.
A village sleeps, only orphan dogs 

hear the scaled note, high then descending.
Tear of  cotton, thin scent of fennel 

in the bruised swale.

                                     --S.K.

6 comments:

Infidel753 said...

Hmm, I'll have to think about this one. It's intriguingly open to interpretation.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Hint: Leda and the swan.

I was reading a lot of W.B. Yeats when I wrote this one.

Apologies to him.

Deneb is a star in constellation Cygnus.

Cygnus = swan

But it can mean whatever you want it to mean.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Oh, I forgot, the Cygnus constellation in which Deneb is found, is in the Northern Cross

FreeThinke said...

____________ Nameless ____________

I waited and kept trying, but I never
Achieved the thing I’d hoped I might achieve.
My standards kept me frustrated –– forever
Stymied –– so I can’t myself deceive ––

Or foolishly encourage vain ambition ––
Deny innate inferiority ––
Elude the ghastly clutches of Perdition ––
Professing Greatness is in store for me.

Realizing one has limitations
Exfoliates, denudes, and bares the soul.
Stopping all pretentious imitations
Strips us of the hope our life’s been whole.

Elation, when derived from mere illusion,
Denies fulfillment –– amplifies contusion.


~ FreeThinke

Infidel753 said...

Oh, I forgot, the Cygnus constellation in which Deneb is found, is in the Northern Cross

Right next to Lyra and my star. Thanks for the hints -- I think I get it now.

FreeThinke said...

You might have called your poem Reaching for the Stars. ;-)