Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Fragment

how is it that I can long for you
when I don't even know what you are—
how does imagination take flight as if
launched from the tip of a fragment,
like a shard half buried in the earth
revealing only a tender line of blue along its edge

a shard that if pulled up reveals
its small self, an unfinished history,
related to other shards that will appear
as the fertile earth heaves everything up,
as every season reveals more and
soil, stone, everything is carried slowly upward

its crackled glaze gleaming white and blue
this shard lies quiet in my palm,
the smokey edge dark against my skin
like a feather, like a wing, like a story
speaking not with words but with
the whispers of vision and gesture—

from this hazy line, like a poem, like a dream,
like a bird that spreads its aching wings
to reach for the light that breaks
through morning's bank of clouds
gold upon blue upon blue,
I reach for the thought of you

18 Comments:

Blogger Brenda Clews said...

This is achingly beautiful... wetness creases my eyes, I have no words. (o)

2/21/2006 6:36 PM  
Blogger alan said...

Winterson and Woolf do that to me; as I read the words are perfect though I didn't know what I needed them to be...

and now you!

alan

2/22/2006 1:45 AM  
Blogger Becca said...

very thought-provoking ...

2/22/2006 6:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

like something in a dream. beautiful!

2/22/2006 8:57 AM  
Blogger mermaid said...

One of my favorites thus far.

2/22/2006 9:27 AM  
Blogger Patrick M. Tracy said...

MB,

Very good imagery in this one. I think that the flowing groups of visual incitements allow a reader to float across the surface of this one, making a re-read almost unavoidable.

Here's a suggestion on form, however. I think this one would read better in couplet form, especially the first stanza.

I think the white space around the words would do a lot for the presentation, and to let each idea and image take root in the reader's mind.

2/22/2006 1:14 PM  
Blogger MB said...

Brenda, thank you for your lovely response.

Uninterlaced, welcome! And thanks for commenting. I'm pleased you enjoyed the poem.

Alan, I'm incredibly honored to even be mentioned in the same sentence with those names! Wow.

Becca, yes, I've been ruminating a bit!

Anne, it is a little dream-like. I'm trying to get at something that can't be easily described.

Mermaid, thank you very much! I'm glad.

Firehawk, it's an interesting idea you suggest. I think couplets throughout makes it feel a little too interrupted but I'll keep the idea in mind. Meanwhile, I've added a little more punctuation that I hope will help slow and direct the flow a little more. Thanks for your comment!

2/22/2006 2:28 PM  
Blogger Sky said...

I have been back to read this poem over and over. I love the way it flows and the mystery at its core.

I especially love:

"...from this hazy line, like a poem, like a dream,/like a bird that spreads its aching wings/to reach for the light that breaks/through morning's bank of clouds/gold upon blue upon blue,/I reach for the thought of you"

The music in your poems is so seductive. Last night I read several of your poems aloud to my husband and loved how the lines moved off my tongue. Such talent!

2/22/2006 8:12 PM  
Blogger Jean said...

"soil, stone, everything is carried slowly upward "

Oui, c'est une grande leçon de la vie !
Merci pour vos commentaires si généreux , mais vous méritez les mêmes !
J'aime beaucoup vos poésies même si je ne comprends pas tout .

2/23/2006 4:31 AM  
Blogger rdl said...

very, very nice!!

2/23/2006 6:36 AM  
Blogger Faith Bicknell said...

I'm one of the editors of wildchildpublishing.com and I know our poetry editor is always looking for fresh, well written poetry.

Btw, I love the title of your blog. Bluebirds are one of my fav birds.

2/23/2006 9:11 AM  
Blogger MB said...

Sky, I am completely bowled over by your comment. What a wonderful thing to do and say. Thank you!

Jean, je ne sais pas si je comprends tout ce que j'ecris moi-meme! Mais je pense que vous le comprenez assez. Je suis heureuse que nous pouvons partager ce que nous avons en commun, un amour pour la beaute, une sense de quelque chose en plus dans la vie et dans le monde, plus profond, un peu de lumiere peut-etre.

rdl, thanks, I'm very glad you enjoyed it.

Faith, thank you for the information. And thanks for stopping by to read!

2/23/2006 10:31 AM  
Blogger Dale said...

Wow, that's very beautiful.

how is it that I can long for you
when I don't even know what you are—


Wonderful beginning, it is the way the question comes to me, too, but really it's backwards. How could we long so much for her/him/it, if we knew what she/he/it was? What we're longing for is for more than what we know, more than what we understand.

How we apprehend so clearly that there is more than what we know, is a mystery to me. It's just common sense, of course, but we perceive it with a finer faculty than common sense.

-- but your poem proves that more elegantly than I ever could.

2/24/2006 11:36 AM  
Blogger Frankie said...

MB, are you published anywhere? If not, you really should be. You are an AMAZING poet. I am always so moved by your words, your imagery, your emotional depth. Each poem somehow proves more beautiful than the last, something I would never conceive as possible. Another gorgeous poem. Thank you for this, all of this.

2/24/2006 8:51 PM  
Blogger Fragmented said...

this is beautiful.

the first and last verses stuck to me.

I agree that your poetry has music in it. the cadence and the flow of your pieces are really graceful. =)

2/26/2006 2:48 AM  
Blogger MB said...

Dale, you heard this piece so well. Thank you.

Frankie, this is where you will find my poems. Thank you for your kind words. I'm very glad you enjoy your visits.

Luanne, I would say that the music you hear is what carries the words. It is the flow that bubbles up and gives them birth.

2/26/2006 10:19 AM  
Blogger Mary said...

I really admire the richness of the imagery here, the intensity. Really beautiful, mb.

2/26/2006 11:14 AM  
Blogger MB said...

Mary, I'm glad, thank you.

2/26/2006 4:57 PM  

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