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Bottling Time

 

 





Bottling time


Autumn comes
Sun slanting golden
With apples and mulberries
Jelly and jam-making
The family at work
Boiling syrup
And bottling stickily
For the year ahead.

Move back and watch
The seasons change;
Zoom out through
The field of stars.
The sun dwindles to invisibility
And the milky way
Is just one speck
Sixty million years ago.

Consider the big bang
That compressed
The constellations to a cup,
Flung them,
Flour in the air
So that its fall
Is all the history
Of the universe.

We, in all that time and power
Are less than the smallest mote
Boasting that killing ourselves
Destroys our world.
So how come
Friends and family
Apples and mulberries
Can be so damn important?

 

 

 

 

Author notes

Entered this for the the UK National Poetry Competition. Didn't win. Not really a surprise.

So?

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Comments


  • Alexander Hine
    June 7, 2007

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    This is good. The way you fling the reader from beautiful scenes of jam-making to the majesty of the universal evolution of matter and life is great. I often ponder such things, and I must admit I am sometimes brought to tears by the sheer ludicrous generosity of the whole thing - it is impossible to comprehend.
    Anyhow, I didn't like the ending at first but it is growing on me. You ask an interesting question in a humorous way. Why are these things so important - or do they just seem that way, as Dawkins would have it, because they aid our genes' survival and remind us of kinship and the importance of food?
    Who knows, perhaps no-one, but I'm glad you asked.
    Wow, I think I am over-tired - my mind is working foggy and fast.
    K. F.

  • Spinner
    May 22, 2007

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    blast the UK Nat., I though it was excellent. It made me think of how when I was little I used to perch on a tiny branch on top of our dogwood tree like a huge fat bird and eat mulberries from the branch above it. It was pretty unsafe, but the only place you could get to the mulberries-- and when we had to cut down the mulberry tree above, it sure seemed like a little world had been destroyed. The whole piece had a very Mary Oliver feel to it, especially the first verse, which is always good. Thanks for sharing!

  • clippedofwing
    April 30, 2007
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    Why is no one reading this? It's so good. Chills nominated it. She told me. xx


  • chills
    April 29, 2007

    Edit | Reply
    Well, it suprised ME. I can read every line that you write and see pictures. For instance, 'flung them, flour in the air' is such a powerful yet gentle image. Really, a very feminine image to my way of thinking. Oh Vic - I love all of this, especially the concept of panning out wide wise lens. We are just specks but so important to each other if there is going to be a good sort of future. Thank you. For this poem but also for being Vic. ok, too syrupy?! xx have a big hot chilli to redress the niceness balance xx