"The faraway wave" [boomerang]
The faint shadow of the germane
the faraway wave of vague relevance
where the tug would indeed appertain
to the memory bankshot of elephants
elusive! (nor even the half of it
aloft like the haughty giraffe of it)
the blood for the rose left a stain
the thorn emblematic as diligence
to plod with the pith of intelligence
diffuse (or a game of the brain)
the taciturn trimmed into elegance
the faint shadow of the germane
=====
[for Andy Gricevich. The first line is drawn from remarks of mine amid Silliman-blog comments; but lifted from context, I fashioned this boomerang poem.]
posted by david raphael israel at 1:38 AM
2 Comments:
Hey, great!
And thanks for the dedication. This is a lovely little piece.
Your "half of it/giraffe of it" rhyme made me groan, but in that particular tone that responds to ridiculous stretches that are actually brilliant.
Happens with a very small handful of (mostly song)writers.
A good groan, appropriate to my very full belly of spicy banana yogurt curry--another successful stretch of the day.
I might at some point steal the line from you. If so, expect recognition in kind.
obsoyxl,
Andy
multi thanks Andy -- steal away. Yes, having first invoked the elephant, the giraffe (if not to say the kitchen sink) seemed the next degree of absurd slavishness to the exigencies & circus hoop-jumps of idle rhyming. Truth to tell, there seems to be a kind of "course of navigation" that can be very loose and irrational in its range of image-imagination, while strictly formal and precise in its range of sound-formation. This is something that in fact becomes possible if exploring a MELDING (rather than exclusionary separation) of post-avant openness with neo [or whatever] formalist verse technique.
Not that I'd make such a claim as a generality, but plausibly so in case of these 12 lines. Maybe. Though such an articulation seems unweildily [if that be a word] -- what? in some sense defensive. Not needed; except that such a strategy is almost glaring for its absnece. Though come to think of it, the EARLY work of Ashbery (for one) may point to it as a possibility -- one not much followed by anyone else (perhaps himself included). How's that for a thought?
cheers,
d.i.
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