~Sylvia Cassedy
Two Maggies today. I just love this Maggie Smith poem with its gold butterflies and shadows:
Mountain Child
by Maggie Smith
When the girl leaves the mountain,
she is no longer a child,
but she has not outgrown the hawk.
She wears its shadow on her shoulder,
an epaulet. It bears the weight
of allegory. When the girl leaves
the mountain, it’s autumn,
so many yellow leaves on the gingko,
clusters of butterflies seem to cling
to each branch. Each time
the wind blows, a few take wing...
read the rest here (scroll to the bottom)
Ginkgo Tree by Will Power
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I love this (admittedly dark) Maggie Blake Bailey poem, too:
Glacier Climbing
by Maggie Blake Bailey
...Years ago, I left to climb a glacier
in Alaska and learned how to cling
to the mountain, how to bracket...
read the whole thing here
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Last day to turn in human rights poems!
Carol's Corner has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Carol!
I love that 'a trick of gold wings" and your photo that shows it so beautifully. Then, the other, having no connection in that way to family, but in other ways, "no purchase" feels so very tragic to me. Thanks, Tabatha.
ReplyDeleteGolden ginko leaves are gorgeous. I wish we had more ginkos up this way. "Glacier Climbing" is gut-wrenching. It's so sad what we've become as a society with all our addictions.
ReplyDeleteI like both of these poems the second one by Maggie Blake Bailey is a real slice of the times, hauntingly riveting.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many lines in the first poem that I like, and it's so rich with metaphor, thanks for both Tabatha.
Both of these poems. The ginkgoes, the glacier. Wow.
ReplyDeleteOh, Tabatha....that glacier....that dry ice. What a way to poem a poem. I need to sit quietly for a while and think about my mother and the loss of her.
ReplyDelete"trick of gold wings"
ReplyDelete"it makes your teeth feel good"
"steady the teeth in her mouth"
...some body parts riding my shoulder this week.
Thanks, Tabatha.