Monday, May 15, 2023

I DREAMED THAT POETRY WAS GOING AWAY

I dreamed that Poetry was going away

or had gone already like the aurora borealis

snapping its colours, from rippling music parted.

what has happened to the soul by candlelight

to the meanings of what there was left to say

to honour. to valour. to even talking this way

when the beautiful books were still hours

and not stowed away.

and held, in a golden reverence past all sundials.

even the moonlight snarls its silver 

on the back of the great winds and disappears

like a tear on Hans Andersen's face. stranded

at Elsinore and earth, earth I would say

has vaulted into

a wilderness of no pianos;if I could speak at all

in the snow hushed languages I used to love.

down the stark nights no angels can be called;

we have forsaken God

and down the Carolinas the seas are no longer jade

but have turned to murk.

speak in the ticker tape half light

on the diffident stage

bark into the land of no become.

in the Kingdoms of the Blessed

we have left our inheritance

and the libraries strike strange poses.

there is there is no resonance

but tears rain down

the children of imagination cannot be found

stuck from pole to pole learning their dismal roles

from East to West small numbers

take up all the rest we are numbered 

among the populations. 

the swift to the same old race.

I cannot stand this place.

we only watch the news

or hum for a little space

and the news is stale.

no I, to you such a tale

would unfold...

mary angela douglas 15 may 2023

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