Caught up in torrents of cascading hours,
our lifetimes skirt mysterious shores.
Where Lethe joins the nebulous Styx,
a millennium's flood water pours
over whitewater rapids and foaming falls,
while coruscating boulder licks
the torrent to frothing squalls --
The sage writes scintillating verse
to capture the threads of invention,
proving with language tight and terse
that he really WAS paying attention.
A bubbling spume of pure delight,
nourishing sylph and water sprite,
thus distills to ethereal poetry:
it's a draught so fresh and light,
Nymphs bottle it as Destiny.
* "Life makes writing poetry necessary to prove I really was paying
attention."
MARK STRAND speaking at the Des Moines National Poetry Festival in May, 1997
Author notes
imagery
Mark Strand was speaking at the Poetry Forum at the Des Moines National Poetry Festival in 1997 and somebody asked him why he writes poetry. He said, "I write poetry to prove I really am paying attention." I went home afterward and wrote this poem, and he signed the original later that day. I still have the original paper with his signature.
Written March 5th, 2005
A contest entry
- Word Prompt by Frogzter.
700 points, ended May 19, 10 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
What did you think
Comments
1 - 40 of 40
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The mythological imagery is like a mirror to a mirror. Myth begins as imagery of life then life's experience of art finds itself in metaphors of myth.
There is an unusual rhyme scheme crossing and re-crossing lines and stanzas, splitting couplets and tercets of the same end rhyme.
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Thank you for entering! I really liked this. The beginning was very intriguing, I couldn't stop reading!
Good luck!
--> pia♫♪
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You have really done justice to the word through this piece! I enjoyed this very much! Thanks for entering and best wishes in the contest!
Frogz~ -
Thanks for joining in our contest
a wonderful word for everyone to work with.
Blessings,
Frozentearz -
< Thanks.
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I don't know who Mark Strand is--I imagine another self-promoted poet of the day.
This reads smoothly. I like the mythological references, done in a way that's not done just to be scholastic, but in a way that indicates a personal interest and affinity with the mythologies themselves.
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I really liked this poem, you based the poem on his quote but you made it yours by giving it individual concept of life and a deep background. Now the ending was honestly amazing, captures a great deal of the poem in one line, without repeating yourself! stunning work
HBH -
itīs true...excellent use of vocabulary and poetic device. the last line brought the whole thing together for me. a wonderful poem from beginning to end....
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This is real poetry about real poetry. SWEET! Your poem was dripping with so many poetic devices! There was rhyme, allusion, metaphor, and it was just drenched in beautiful vocabulary! Excellent piece!
Arielle Giselle -
This is just so beautiful. It is so nicely written. IT was a joy to read You choose your words so well. Well done
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"Proving with language tight and terse
That he really WAS paying attention."
these two lines state what i feel is true... i especially liked the "tight and terse"
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A very descriptive and flowing piece. I really liked this and enjoyed reading it. Your descriptions were well done and excellently mastered. Great job and thank you for sharing.
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beautiful simply beautiful nice discription too
i loved this line "While coruscating boulder licks"
beautiful meataphor sp? oh well really nice write
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good luck! This is a winner, in my opinion. I love how you describe the sage's (or Mark Strand's) language as tight and terse. The words fit together, you do rhyming poetry so well. It's so rythmic and i think the rhythm draws the part of the poem that is the most overlooked, the beautiful imagery. Sometimes people strip a poem down to its bare meaning, no matter how well-written, but you don't allow that. The imagery becomes a part of the rest, tied in by rhythm and the fact that it fits. I love it.
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the river of forgetfulness ... lovely ... wonderful imagery wrapped up in fabulous thoughts and tied together with luscious words and Destiny..... i enjoyed this one heaps - good luck in the contest >>>> EM
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You have shown a great variety of word choice for this that in the end pulled off exactly what you were trying to say, the quote was just an added touch. Take care and God bless.
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amazing!
i like your style, its vary unerque, dont ever change it, ceep writting! -
charming
Very lovley. The end was wonderful:
Nymphs bottle it as destiny
That was really awsome. You have such a beautiful poem here it sounds almost like a surrealist fantasy... anyway, this was a delight to read -
Hi, a lovely poem with great flow, the feel is wonderful, enchanting a great pleasure to read as are all your poems, this is a winner , should do very well in the comp. all the best Di
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exelent
I LOVE the quote!!! It was such a beautifull touch!!! I realy liked the full discription of everything! -
Great piece! The story behind it helps create a more personal, true feeling in the poem. Awesome job!
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i like ur descriptions of everything, you make everything in this world seem so happy and nice (which, newsflash, it's not...lol) but it's still nice
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A stunning piece of work! I'm in awe of this one! Very fresh wordsmithing!
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This indeed was a wonderful poem and your authors comments really added to the dimension of the poem too. I found that the rhymes here flowed flawlessly and that the content was bafflingly beautiful. I stand here amazed and deeply impressed with you skill with words. Well done poet and keep on paying attention! Good luck in the contest.
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Wow, great use of description... especially that of place and mood. Nice rhyme scheme, nice rhythm, and a great drawing of the tone you set. I like this poem because of the vocabulary you use and the flow of song that comes from it.
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refreshingly good write
hmmm for this poem to be short like it was it holds and grabs the imaginary really really well and i enjoyed reading this piece you have good job and good luck in the contest ur in -
You have a lot of powerful words in this piece. I am really at a loss as to what to comment on because I think you already know this piece is quality. Anyway, good job!
~Zola~ -
I am intrigued by this write. There are several feels I get when I read it, I like it but it's not clear to me. Maybe thats because I'm tired. I'll read it agai tomorrow.
~~~POO~~~ -
interesting is a good word for this. you seem to be mixing a few styles of rythme in this peice and i'm not certian that i altogether like the resulting concoction. it has a rather fantastically bold tone to it though, and i do like that. and the lines in and of them self are well written and come off clean. it is only as a whole peice that they seem off, pehaps the wording makes me stop while reading where i shouldn't. i'll have to return and try it again some other time. keep writting, i do altogether quite like this piece. now that i think about it more.
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This is lovely. Loved your word choice. A suggestion: at the bottom of the poem, (after the GREAT QUOTE, : ), define for us some of these references to Styx, and Lethe and anything else that the average person isn't terribly familiar with. Perhaps it would help the reader to fully understand your poem. The consequences of this poem's conception are great, and fun to learn about. Thanks for including the story in the author's comments box. All the best,
gwyn
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Um...
Wow. That's interesting. I'm not too certain about what you're talking about in the poem, but I'm guessing it has something to do with you paying attention and writing poetry as proof that you were paying attention. Yes? Well, whatever the case may be, it turned out rather interestingly. I can't say wonderful or terrible mind, because I still haven't figured out exactly what it is you're saying here...it's a great puzzle to me... -
Gee, what can I say..? Really, "ecrivain01," I must confess that I agree with "Fool no1;" your first line is "classically fantabulous," and the rest of your captivating muse is not bad either! Thank you for sharing...
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Interesting.
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Great poem, The first two lines are excellent. "Caught up in torrents of cascading hours, our lifetimes skirt mysterious shores". A really nice write here. Take care...mal
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