My writing group, the Poetry Chooks, has been meeting since 1999. We had a slightly larger group to start with, but there are a core group of four who are still meeting now. These friends have been an amazing source of inspiration and support in my poetry writing efforts over all those years. This week I've chosen a poem by Christina Stachurski, one of the "chooks".
Spending all January trying to make one observation of detail each day, for A River of Stones, put me in mind of this poem by Christina. It comes not from our recent collection, Flap, but from our earlier book, The Chook Book. It is my favourite of Christina's from this collection. Although seemingly simple, it has always lingered with me.
View
From the gate
of the Selwyn St
cemetery
the lines
of lives once
chisel sharp
have lost their edge
Blue daisies drift
among the loving
pink of roses,
dark yews brood
We take a photograph -
you, me, Esther, Greg -
capturing this light
now
More poetry at the Tuesday Poem hub site
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
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5 comments:
I find the lines, 'the lines of lives once chisel sharp have lost their edge' very moving and almost haunting. It seems that these lines could encapsulate the whole poem. Lovely to have a poetry group, Catherine!
It does have a lingering, elegiac quality--fittingly, given the subject matter!
I liked the contrast between the implied edges of the stones and the blurring drifts of flowers, punctuated by the yew trees.
Yes, those lines Elizabeth quotes are very strong and will stay with me. I also love the ending - the single word 'now' - a carpe diem cry.
Very bittersweet... I think it's unfair that the two of you (and two more) should have a little talent collective. But thank you for sharing the wealth. :)
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