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| birdsfoot trefoils |
Emmeline by dawn light
borrows roses from your bed
Emmeline by moonlight
brings back petit fours instead.
Italy had its masters
who loved Emmeline with their oils
touched by God in Trinity
and Emmeline in trefoils.
Emmeline in summer
reads your letters until the fall
then she wades into the water
to the boatmen's barcarolle.
______
for Word Garden Word List--Tenderness.
I have broken my own rule and only used 2 of the List words (Italy and summer.) I had used several others but they all ended up on the cutting room floor. I decided to keep and post the poem anyway because I think it speaks to the source material(s), which was my aim.
This is the fourth of my Emmeline poems. The previous three:
I will be back to read the series. Beautiful writing. Will comment further when I catch up.
ReplyDeleteHow tender and every word carefully planted - Jae
ReplyDeleteHave now read the series, which is dreamy, enchanting, and full of your incredible imagery and story-telling powers. They have a feeling all their own. Just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWow, gorgeous, Shay. I read all the poems in the series and they all have that certain twinkling magical ambience. If more are in store, I'll be lining up outside the bookstore for the drop.
ReplyDeleteThere is a languor here that is very reminiscent of the sensual yet spiritual way D. H. Lawrence often presented ideas. It echoes without fanfare a clean and deep sense of emotion that is also magical and full of light, one that is uniquely yours. I love the comparison between the Trinity and the trefoils, and the soft but sonorous and powerful finale. Beautiful, elegant writing, Shay.
ReplyDeleteRules are made to be broken, and you did it beautifully with this poem. Each one of your Emmeline poems has its unique voice. They're so gorgeous. I think there should be a book. Eva Emmeline was Charlie's paternal grandmother's name. His maternal grandmother's name was Violet Valentine...what names. Oh, and I will be posting dreaded Haiku for the last poems of the month. I have cataract surgery tomorrow, so short is my game, oh, and I do throw in a cinquain. :)
ReplyDeleteOh my. Best of luck with the surgery!
DeleteAgreed with HW, picking up sensibility of DHL. I read back over the Emmeline series, these are so good. Love that she makes an appearance from time to time, becomes a parallel poetry world.
ReplyDeleteEmmeline's very existence reads like a siren call, but to what, I wonder, when she herself seems weighed down as "she wades into the water."
ReplyDelete