Getting up, I dreamed already
of walking in the woods--
those few miles stashed
in the crooked arm
of Route Six and Torrence.
I had to wait 'till after school
and taking out the dog, and even then,
even walking leaf-incensed paths,
I still felt a'jitter toward myself
and the world.
Three others passed,
one wielding hiking poles and striding
shcrunch, shcrunch as if the trail
were more than a mile, as if she were
an arrow tight for distant heights--
and two gingering along, a man
and a woman who carried a broken shoe.
When next I saw her, both shoes were off.
She went so gently, touching the world
through soft black socks.
of walking in the woods--
those few miles stashed
in the crooked arm
of Route Six and Torrence.
I had to wait 'till after school
and taking out the dog, and even then,
even walking leaf-incensed paths,
I still felt a'jitter toward myself
and the world.
Three others passed,
one wielding hiking poles and striding
shcrunch, shcrunch as if the trail
were more than a mile, as if she were
an arrow tight for distant heights--
and two gingering along, a man
and a woman who carried a broken shoe.
When next I saw her, both shoes were off.
She went so gently, touching the world
through soft black socks.
Please never stop being Elena, this marvelously attentive, beautifully patient poet who gives us poems such as this one.
ReplyDeleteFirst stanza: I like "leaf-incensed," a lot. And I think that many of us, alas, are all "ajitter" toward the world these days!
Second stanza: The arrow simile is just superb. And "gingering along"!! I don't know why, but the closing image of the last three lines, as you present it, gave me something like a sob of awe, inwardly. You've taken this detail and imparted to it a numinous significance, somehow.
I almost never dispraise -- sometimes there's a grammatical hiccup that might need looking after (not here!) -- and the reason I almost never dispraise is that you rarely if ever give me a reason to!
I'm very moved by this poem. It was surely not your intention to be prescriptive, but I say: Let us all "go gently," touching the world more softly, more tenderly, more reverently.
I agree with Thomas! I think this one will need to go in my journal...a touch of grace in these days.
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