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Thursday, March 08, 2007

Poetry Thursday: Not a Red Poem

This week continues to be busy, although I am gradually settling in to working full time. At the moment, P. is a house husband so one of my current delights is coming home knowing that someone else will cook the dinner. And sometimes I also find the laundry on the line. But I have been helping my daughter move house, baking a birthday cake for another daughter, shopping for her birthday present, and taking care of paper work, not to mention trying to fit in regular exercise - all of which leaves little time for writing.

Which is why this week's post is titled "Not a Red Poem". Red was the prompt at
Poetry Thursday
this week. But since the prompt is completely and totally optional, I have pulled out a poem from my archives on "white". Who knows? Maybe one day Liz and Dana will post the prompt "white". And maybe by then I will have a "red" poem to post. (I have had a little time to read passages on red in some of my books on "colour" - a topic that intrigues me. I have a wonderful list of names for different types of red. I'm sure a poem is lurking there somewhere).

I always felt this white poem needed three sections for balance. But somehow it seemed determined to stop at two.

White

1

white is proud
she scorns light’s caress
returns all gifts
has no form
does not possess
her own shadows

2

the baptismal gown
the daisy chain
the picket fence
the clean sheet

the fallen petals
the spider’s web
the far mountains
the ghost moon

the sharp fang
the winding cloth
the sepulchre
the bleached bones

17 comments:

Norma said...

I love the way you have grouped your images of white. They really work well together. Good luck with the new job.

My PT is up.

Anonymous said...

It does work with two sections. I like the last stanza and how it caps off whites pride.

Rose

xo

Crafty Green Poet said...

This works very well, the listing becomes almost medidative.

(I am participating this week, but poetry Thursday so far are not wanting or able to publish my comment)

Kay Cooke said...

I like the wispy feel to the poem - but yet it also has strength - a little like the colour white I guess. Have been catching up on your news - glad your job came at just the right time. I'm sure things will work out fine for you - at least your trip to England was booked before - am I right in saying you may not have gone otherwise?

Anonymous said...

White, I think, is the strongest of all colors. I enjoyed reading all the versions of white.

writerwoman said...

Loved the first stanza. White felt like a queen to me after reading that.

leonie said...

wow, sounds like you are busy indeed. i love the groups of things that you have chosen for these poems.

gautami tripathy said...

Very good white poem. I like the way it flows.

Very good ending!

Catherine said...

Chiefbiscuit, there's no way we would have been paying out thousands of dollars on an overseas trip with a cut in income to around 25% of what it was. We do have savings, but we were counting on that for retirement which we didn't expect to be for a few years yet.
All being well, P, will find another job and then another trip in a few years time may well be a possibility. If not, well at least we have this one.

Natalie said...

This is a really beautiful poem about white, and all that you associate it with. The first stanza is amazing, I love how you express that it fails to possess its own shadow.

rel said...

Catrherine,
i think white works just fine. It's more mellow and reflective which is a nice counter balance to all the reds today.
rel

paris parfait said...

I like the fluttery, elusive whites - strong contrast to red - that culminate in death's harshness. Well done!

Anonymous said...

nice white poem, Catherine! I think I love it most when thinking about the possibility of red in any of these situations - it becomes so powerful because each of these tangible things are synonymous with their whiteness - and to mar them with red...very nice.

Anonymous said...

I wrote a white poem once. It wasn't very good. This white poem is very good. I loved the first section and thought it would be my favorite of the two. Then I read the second section and now I cannot select a favorite.

Pip said...

Business isn't conducive to writing unfortuntely. I can sympathize there! I love your white images. White has a certain emptiness to it, doesn't it?

Kimberley McGill said...

I read this a couple of days ago on the run and the images stayed with me. Well done.
I always thought I would like a room all done in white with just touches of light blue ---- but the cleaning it would take!

Mary J. said...

I love the ending of the first part - does not posess/her own shadows - and the pairing of "the baptismal gown" and "the daisy chain." Beautiful images.