"incorrigibly" [ghazal]
Awake all night with poetry incorrigibly
with the morning light more poetry incorrigibly
My other efforts in life go well or poorly
today I fight with poetry incorrigibly
Everyone saw my flaws! they were all correct
I was wound up tight with poetry incorrigibly
In childhood when I dreamed of pursuing poetry
in mere black & white I glimpsed poetry incorrigibly
With the contrast of the mountain & the cloudy sky
with the bird in flight there is poetry incorrigibly
At the edge of every tapestry rests a border
at the margin of nighttime poetry lies incorrigibly
"Come be our friend!" they said "you can marry our daughter!"
she was cute alright so was poetry incorrigibly
Whenever I tried to hold down a steady job
the boss's fright restrained poetry incorrigibly
A balanced life! sounds lovely as an ideal
but obscures the site of poetry incorrigibly
For decades I blandly dabbled harvesting sensibly
then came the blight of poetry incorrigibly
Why play the old game of geopolitical judo?
go & fly the kite of poetry incorrigibly
Any poison if it's used carefully can be medicine
lack of excess might kill poetry incorrigibly
All my friends were kind all my loves were sweet all despaired
when I kissed good-night to poetry incorrigibly
O the cheek of you is a cheek that cheats & wins
what a limpid light bleeds poetry incorrigibly
Do not slash your wrists! that's the coward's way there are others
slip beneath their sight sipping poetry incorrigibly
I can mimic prose I can even write cogent letters!
day persuades the night into poetry incorrigibly
In her fertile brain dark fecundity bares its bosom
in her pause I might sire poetry incorrigibly
On the lake of mind what a wondrous swan was gliding
milky appetite drinking poetry incorrigibly
Where the lotus blooms where the mud is thick what a mirror!
rather recondite blossoms poetry incorrigibly
A faqir am I! my beloved is rich as rain
her monsoon is quite fond of poetry incorrigibly
Though I strove to live half-way sensibly & responsibly
I could sense the bite of poetry incorrigibly
Love is infinite? but so limited! life is pitiful!
silence veils the sight of your poetry incorrigibly
Every game is based on the likelihood of losing
when the score is tight I seek poetry incorrigibly
What's the use of things? everything becomes less than zero
falling Fahrenheit killing poetry incorrigibly
Why so negative? life is generous! time is boundless!
darling malachite! jaded poetry gleams incorrigibly
In the ocean's depth with the pearl-maids' dangerous frolic
dragons may recite lethal poetry incorrigibly
I don't share your views Ardeo! they're so misanthropic
why should pain spring right out of poetry incorrigibly?
with the morning light more poetry incorrigibly
My other efforts in life go well or poorly
today I fight with poetry incorrigibly
Everyone saw my flaws! they were all correct
I was wound up tight with poetry incorrigibly
In childhood when I dreamed of pursuing poetry
in mere black & white I glimpsed poetry incorrigibly
With the contrast of the mountain & the cloudy sky
with the bird in flight there is poetry incorrigibly
At the edge of every tapestry rests a border
at the margin of nighttime poetry lies incorrigibly
"Come be our friend!" they said "you can marry our daughter!"
she was cute alright so was poetry incorrigibly
Whenever I tried to hold down a steady job
the boss's fright restrained poetry incorrigibly
A balanced life! sounds lovely as an ideal
but obscures the site of poetry incorrigibly
For decades I blandly dabbled harvesting sensibly
then came the blight of poetry incorrigibly
Why play the old game of geopolitical judo?
go & fly the kite of poetry incorrigibly
Any poison if it's used carefully can be medicine
lack of excess might kill poetry incorrigibly
All my friends were kind all my loves were sweet all despaired
when I kissed good-night to poetry incorrigibly
O the cheek of you is a cheek that cheats & wins
what a limpid light bleeds poetry incorrigibly
Do not slash your wrists! that's the coward's way there are others
slip beneath their sight sipping poetry incorrigibly
I can mimic prose I can even write cogent letters!
day persuades the night into poetry incorrigibly
In her fertile brain dark fecundity bares its bosom
in her pause I might sire poetry incorrigibly
On the lake of mind what a wondrous swan was gliding
milky appetite drinking poetry incorrigibly
Where the lotus blooms where the mud is thick what a mirror!
rather recondite blossoms poetry incorrigibly
A faqir am I! my beloved is rich as rain
her monsoon is quite fond of poetry incorrigibly
Though I strove to live half-way sensibly & responsibly
I could sense the bite of poetry incorrigibly
Love is infinite? but so limited! life is pitiful!
silence veils the sight of your poetry incorrigibly
Every game is based on the likelihood of losing
when the score is tight I seek poetry incorrigibly
What's the use of things? everything becomes less than zero
falling Fahrenheit killing poetry incorrigibly
Why so negative? life is generous! time is boundless!
darling malachite! jaded poetry gleams incorrigibly
In the ocean's depth with the pearl-maids' dangerous frolic
dragons may recite lethal poetry incorrigibly
I don't share your views Ardeo! they're so misanthropic
why should pain spring right out of poetry incorrigibly?
posted by david raphael israel at 9:50 AM
5 Comments:
David,
This is good.
"geopolitical judo"?!
And why "malachite"? Is it for the play on "jaded" as jade/green?
Oh! Just saw the internal rhyme--"light/fight/tight/white/fligt" etc.
er...flight
right!
yes, malachite was partly for the 2 reasons you note; but also, more generally, some of the verses there are delving into imagery (sensibility) (found for instance in certain Tang dynasty poetry, among many places) that seems to require certain color / jewel qualities. Can be thought of musically; for some musical piece, one needs to have a cello; for some poetry, one needs rubies, pearls, or (as case may be) malachite.
longwinded lack-of-an-answer posing as answer. ;-)
I just wish some of our contemps. would indulge in more geopol. judo, not less, though; the current approcha in some quarters is just geopolitical machinegun. Still, with the kite image, this seemed the right balance I guess.
cheers,
d.i.
ps:
"go fly the kite of poetry" might have some range of poss. senses & applications; but in this couplet (what w/ geopolitical topic-drop), I a little bit had in mind Tagore (who -- though I don't know his politics as intimately as some readers of this blog are apt to -- had a keener regard for poetry as (perhaps) globally-relevant, than have had many a world thinker). [But here no doubt I'm approaching the *he-overexplains-like-all-get-out* fallacy.]
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