Walking along verdant tunneled park path
a skewed metal lamp-post came into view.
Thirty feet high, thirty degrees leaning
probably glanced by dread maintenance truck,
the post slipped its plinth. Misaligned segment
of ornate base, seemed about to slide, toppling
to ground the copper-clad, green patina
column and arched illuminating globe.
Captured by this post, a cast-iron trash bin
listed at an opposing angle but
shared chain's slack tension felt eerie until
I noticed the singular, shimmering,
thread of web strung tautly between these two
immense weights, binding in improbable
balance, a paradox of stress. Delight
unmitigated by known illusion.
Author notes
Surprised by accidental exquisite beauty in a place of contrived attractiveness. 'dread' in L4 is used as the adj. meaning dreaded. 'glanced' in the same line is a pun used as in 'seen' and as 'hit', as in glancing blow. I am also playing with the notion of the lamp post seeing the truck coming and trying to escape as a reason for its being askew. A small joke.
A contest entry
- MYSTERIOUS BEAUTY by Swan song.
500 points, ended June 21, 12 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Can your mind's eye see the scene I am describing? Word choice? Flow?
Comments
1 - 6 of 6
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Very good poem indeed!
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The wonderful notion of nature's spider web balancing the unbalanced with silken intensity is nothing short of brilliant. Top marks for this all the way - oh, and don't stop writing free verse. Sorry no happy clappers to share.
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I much prefer a thoughtful comment
to bunches of cartoons. In this case the right word is worth a thousand cartoons. Actually I think the poem is written in blank verse because of the syllabic restrictions. Thank you for your kind comments.
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Each time I come back to this, I am taken by the sight. You have siezed memory or imagination (I can't tell which) and crystalized it for the reader's view. The improbable balance being found in a spider web is ART.
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If I had taken a photo of this
accident of nature I'm sure it would have qualified as Art. Alas, when I returned, the strand of web was broken. The ephemeral relationship between the three,to notice and capture it, makes it Art. I just hope to share it. This is my first blank verse poem and I don't think I did justice to the form. It was more difficult than I had anticipated but I enjoyed writing the poem.
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Very good this was a nice take and the prompt and very well written. Thank you for entering
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