If I were going to prom again, I would wear a huge skirt and plain cotton tank. A big, poofy, flotation-device-sized skirt. I wish I had done that.
~Leandra Medine
Happy Poetry Friday! I tried to find a poem that matched what is going on in our household (This weekend one of my kids is going to prom and one is coming home from a semester in Germany). There is a surprising dearth of poems about prom. I did find this video, which mixes dance and Germany, calling itself a "cinematic poem":
I love this poem by Jan Wagner, translated from German by Iain Galbraith:
SEE-SAW
make yourself heavier, they call. i close
both eyes, thinking
of sacks of cement, iron foundries
and elephants, an anchor sinking
in deep mud while a fleet of whales
manoeuvres above it, an anvil’s
bullish head. for a while
i hold my breath and wait. to no avail:
read the rest here
Two more:
TEA-BAG by Jan Wagner
QUINCES by Jan Wagner
************
Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
12 comments:
What wonderful mile stones you are celebrating! Enjoy every moment. Not enough poems about prom? We may need to fix that!
Sounds like a weekend to remember for years and years, Tabatha. My grandson had prom last week, graduation this coming one, special times! I love the dance video, wow, on those high rocks! And I loved the 'see-saw' poem, smiling with the first line "make yourself heavier" & then the end, head will stay in the clouds. Thanks and have a marvelous weekend!
What celebrations at your house. I love the see-saw poem. There were such great images in the pome. I agree with Linda, we should have a prom night themed Poetry Friday.
Thanks for all the goodies. Those dance moves are amazing. Of course I loved the teabag poem :). Enjoy the celebrations this weekend!
Prom was long ago for my kids. I remember the shopping for dresses that we could not afford and watching my casual girls get all dressed up. It's marvelous and ridiculous, a see saw.
What amazing imagery! Welcome home to Dash and I hope to see some prom pix on FB. :)
Prom. And suddenly it is all over! Hoping your Promster has a great evening - and that you all enjoy the time back together as a family. That dance vid is amazing!! Love the transitions.
I thought I would sneak a quick peek at the video you linked, and instead got sucked right in. Wow! That's pretty incredible. I agree with Kat that the transitions are fabulous. I also love the layers of the poem, See-Saw. I'm always fascinated by the process of translating poetry. Enjoy the celebrations at your house!
I love the German name for the first poem: WIPPEE
And so clever the tea-bag poems.
Welkomen to your returning student &for the younger one, I hope prom was O.K!
I say that because my experience with prom was throwing up after dinner at the fancy restaurant - it was so hot here in Florida & I was way overdressed & another prom it was just - meh! I would have settled for an OK! for either of them :)
In any event, you are enjoying a mighty fine glorious time of year for your dear Family.
Oh, Tabatha, between the poem and the video, I think you did a wonderful job of capturing the mood and milestones of the weekend! Yay for all of you!
I am exhausted after just watching that dance video!
I happy for you to have your one child home and how exciting for the other to be going to prom. I hope both these events were wonderful. I remember when my son would go away from home to work in Korea or China. It was such a relief to have him return home safe and sound.
What a great "cinematic poem! Interesting, too, to think that those who danced on top of stones were dancing to the music in their heads.
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