Mary Jo Salter, “Lullaby for a Daughter”
Someday, when the sands of time
invert, may you find perfect rest
as a newborn nurses from
the hourglass of your breast.
William Matthews, “A Major Work”
Poems are hard to read
Pictures are hard to see
Music is hard to hear
And people are hard to love
But whether from brute need
Or divine energy
At last mind eye and ear
And the great sloth heart may move.
Lorine Niedecker, “Poet’s Work”
Grandfather
advised me:
Learn a trade
I learned
to sit at desk
and condense
No layoff
from this
condensery
2 comments:
"the hourglass of your breast"
It seems to me that the breast would only look like an hourglass if it had the baby's head attached to it. Otherwise it would just look like half an hourglass. And a breast-and-baby combination isn't really "your breast," is it? Also, "perfect rest" is just about the last thing I'd associate with a newborn baby.
"Poems are hard to read" - yes, particularly when someone decides not to use commas in the line "At last mind eye and ear."
Hmm. I must be in a really sarcastic mood.
It's "poem snark"! The Smart Bitches should take that up, too.
Actually, I rather like the oddness of the "hourglass" metaphor. She's layered two cliches (an hourglass figure and sand through the hourglass for time) and refreshed them both. The awkwardness or imperfection of the results works for me, emotionally.
As for the lack of commas...well, you're right that he's being mimetic there--again, for me it works, although I think the poem would work just as well w/o the gesture.
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