LJ Idol, Topic 11a: "If the Creek Don't Rise"
Author's Note: As we are still in week 11, I present to you another Cento poem, aka a "patchwork" or collage poem composed entirely of lines from other poets, whom I have given proper credit to (in order of appearance) at the bottom. Enjoy!
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If The Creek Don't Rise
Deep-hidden in undeciduous redwood shade
a conductor's horn concerto breaks the air.
The huge sound is mechanical, not expressionistic.
Our water rising in our extraordinary limbs,
pooled water, black in shadow, green in sunshine
at the outermost edge a scallop of ivory.
Curtis & I used to leap barefoot into the creek,
just heavy loads and water high.
How easy to trust the water to break.
I see myself, but from the outside.
And I carry the shovel and pick
a lingering visitor, alone and grief-stricken.
A dream can spend all night fighting off the morning
behind the black bark of the moon,
where one crow balances and sinks.
I have forgot my wings.
Thanks to the following poets:
Robinson Jeffers; James Tate; Ann Lauterbach; Ada Limon; Mark Jarman; Ellen Bass; Terrance Hayes; Forrest Fenn; Yusef Komunyakaa; Jack Gilbert; James Dickey; Meng Hao-jan; Elizabeth Willis; Jennifer Foerster; Kim Addonizio; and Jake Adam York.
=-=-=-=-=
If The Creek Don't Rise
Deep-hidden in undeciduous redwood shade
a conductor's horn concerto breaks the air.
The huge sound is mechanical, not expressionistic.
Our water rising in our extraordinary limbs,
pooled water, black in shadow, green in sunshine
at the outermost edge a scallop of ivory.
Curtis & I used to leap barefoot into the creek,
just heavy loads and water high.
How easy to trust the water to break.
I see myself, but from the outside.
And I carry the shovel and pick
a lingering visitor, alone and grief-stricken.
A dream can spend all night fighting off the morning
behind the black bark of the moon,
where one crow balances and sinks.
I have forgot my wings.
Thanks to the following poets:
Robinson Jeffers; James Tate; Ann Lauterbach; Ada Limon; Mark Jarman; Ellen Bass; Terrance Hayes; Forrest Fenn; Yusef Komunyakaa; Jack Gilbert; James Dickey; Meng Hao-jan; Elizabeth Willis; Jennifer Foerster; Kim Addonizio; and Jake Adam York.