Wednesday, November 10, 2010

One-sentence poem

I wrote this poem in the springtime years ago, and I've revised it several times since. This is its current form. I like it because it's all one sentence, which is also a word play because it's also about a "sentence" we all live under - our mistakes. It's in the form of a cross, suggesting something about that sentence we live under, and, finally, it has dandelions in it, and I always like poems with dandelions in them...

Sentence.

Quiet
on this early
April morning
the dew gathers itself
to dandelion leaves
that do not tremble
with the weight,

and as I look
across the lawn,
which is largely the dandelions, undesirables,
they raise their yellow heads, shining like an anthem
transfigured
out of weediness

and all because
the dew,
drawn
to the dandelion
leaves
now pulls this
early April
sunlight,
slant-wise
across the lawn,
until the silver
light
is altered,
succumbs,
yields,

and is fractured,
refracted
into a million promises

in April, early April
that I, even I
may be
redeemed.


3 comments:

Annemarie said...

My favorite lines:

"shining like an anthem/transfigured/out of weediness" and "all because/the dew,/drawn/to the dandelion/leaves" (nice alliteration!).

The play on fractured-refracted is nice . . . Fs, Ts and Rs . . . I like the two combinations of those sounds.

Most of all, the final lines: "even I/may be redeemed" are so lovely. Good work, Kathy. Haven't read this poem of yours before!

Dorothy said...

I feel as though I am there in the garden with those dandelions, and my tennis shoes are damp from the dew collected as I walk among them. The rising sun feels like a baptism of light. Oh, I am warmed all over.

Lovely poem, Kathy!

Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

Nice work, Mom! When I first read the title, I thought "One-sentence poem...sounds like a kind that I could write" but...uh...no...way to advanced for me, but I like reading yours.