Sunday, September 24, 2006

15 |   "A speaker turns"     [pantoum]


Shouts mimic the shreds of light
what is the wire inside the word?
nods dapple the pool of night
cicadas mock the absent bird
what is the wire inside the word?
the writer's pen is leaking tears
cicadas mock the absent bird
a speaker turns then disappears

the writer's pen is leaking tears
the thinker's pause is in the script
a speaker turns then disappears
the china teacup isn't chipped
the thinker's pause is in the script
but something's apparently improvised
the china teacup isn't chipped
the difference hasn't been recognized

but something's apparently improvised
the film is spooling all the time
the difference hasn't been recognized
what was the undetected crime?
the film is spooling all the time
the plot isn't conventionally tight
what was the undetected crime?
shouts mimic the shreds of light




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Pantoum beginning and ending with a line borrowed from Bob Perelman's poem MUSIK (after Rilke), from the volume Primer (1981)

This is no. 15 in a sequence, Early Autumn Pantoums

3 Comments:

Blogger M. Shahin said...

This was really good.

I enjoyed reading the repeated lines throughout. I notice a lot of your poems are in the pantoum form. I also like pantoum, although it is really hard to work in.

Hope to be reading more of your poetry in the future :-)

Sat Sep 23, 07:50:00 PM PDT  
Blogger david raphael israel said...

M.S.,
thanks for stopping by. True, lately I'm experimenting with (and, perhaps I can say, developing) the pantoum form. This has been proceeding in a rather concentrated way (as sometimes may happen when taking up any form for study and play). At different times, different forms come into focus. If you look deeper into the blog archives, you'll find many varied things.

salam,
d.i.

Sat Sep 23, 09:13:00 PM PDT  
Blogger M. Shahin said...

I will check out the archives section. It is nice to see poets working in form.

Shalom :-)

Tue Sep 26, 06:09:00 PM PDT  

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