Friday 7 January 2011

Squirrel in snow

to the ground
there was only a darkness
- a time before poetry



When the tree fell in the forest
the squirrel ran away through the snow
with the crash
of the fall of the tree.

The crash of the tree, the fall of the tree,
was carried away
by the squirrel
who ran with disturbance of snow.

An airy vibration was in her fine ear;
perception
of something amiss,
she had sensed.
______
gw2011

4 comments:

  1. Like all the sounds of s, sh , ss, c in the poem iving the vibration to the squirrel's ear.

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  2. Thanks Gordon, I like the sounds too. As you say the snow sounds, s, sh, ss, c, and also the mix with the foRest sounds as in tRee, squiRRel vibRation and eaR.

    The haiku was the original start of the poem. But it took an existence of its own and so I hard to restart and find another way.

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  3. Like the idea that the squirrel had sensed the fall of the tree. Reminds me of friends who had an enormous crack across the front of their 17th century cottage in the recent frost - the crack appeared overnight and their dog slept under their bed and wouldn't come out in the morning.

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  4. Wise dog.
    The tree is from the idea that if no conscious observer is present to hear a tree fall it makes no sound. I tried to bring a zen quality to it. The only concious observer I could find was the squirrel. I saw one run in the snow early today. And so it went into the poem.

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