Poetry Forum

Wander-lusting after his magnum opus,
He entered the yellow wood.
The mellowing year was ending –
The woods decayed and fell
As he listened for the song
Of the swan’s last summer.

Hearing instead the nightingale,
He longed for the notes
Between the lines,
Those quarter-tones that separate
The new and the old,
The great and the good.

Amid the blaze of noon,
He went down to the water,
To the river into which it is said
You cannot step twice.

Deafened by silent voices,
Longing to speak only in monologue,
Desperate to loose the sinew’s knot
Of every tortured syllable,
He turned the trees into paper,
The river into ink,
The trees no longer trees,
The rivers no longer a river –

You can step into the same book twice,
Can’t you?

Hi Dillingworth,

I liked that poem. Very impressed with

"He turned the trees into paper,
The river into ink"

and "you can step into the same book twice cant you".

Rach

thanks rach: btw, this is deliberately chock full of allusions - my eternal respect to anyone who can spot them all! (i looked some up, i dont know them all by heart!) i think there are 8 poems/writers alluded to intentionally, though there might be more...

No probs, Eeek that would mean Id have to have read a library of poetry which alas I havent. Lol. No seriously, going to go back at look to see if I can spot any now. Like treasure hunt! haha.

Rach

dillingworth wrote:thanks rach: btw, this is deliberately chock full of allusions - my eternal respect to anyone who can spot them all! (i looked some up, i dont know them all by heart!) i think there are 8 poems/writers alluded to intentionally, though there might be more...

My respect to you, for recycling the allusions and making it fresh.
Without the allusions it stands on its own.
Allusions have a history, hmm Nightingale? how far back does that one go?

To the river into which it is said
You cannot step twice.
.... (I just read this two weeks ago, can't place it, Chinese, I think)
You can step into the same book twice,
Can’t you?

Very tight, I like this, Poetry should re-invite us to step back into it; you do that.

the nightingale is a reference to keat's ode to a nightingale (just the fact that it exists, and that nightingales have been written about); and the whole stepping into a river thing may be chinese, but it also comes from Heraclitus of Ephesus.

the idea behind this one was to describe an experience in an allusive way, making a link between the attempt at originality and the attempt to step into the same river twice. there're still 6 allusions in there, though...

I really enjoyed reading this, beautiful imagery and flow. best wishes - mj

dillingworth wrote:the nightingale is a reference to keat's ode to a nightingale (just the fact that it exists, and that nightingales have been written about); and the whole stepping into a river thing may be chinese, but it also comes from Heraclitus of Ephesus.

the idea behind this one was to describe an experience in an allusive way, making a link between the attempt at originality and the attempt to step into the same river twice. there're still 6 allusions in there, though...

You are right (about the Greek), I was confused, get that way when I read two books at once.

Again, this is quite nice, thought I would revisit