The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Sun 2/10/2008)

[RetroLounge]

Psalm to Snake

O snake, you are an argument
for poetry:

a shift among dry leaves
when there is no wind,
a thin line moving through

that which is not
time, creating time,
a voice from the dead, oblique

and silent. A movement
from left to right,
a vanishing. Prophet under a stone.

I know you're there
even when I can't see you

I see the trail you make
in the blank sand, in the morning

I see the point
of intersection, the whiplash
across the eye. I see the kill.

O long word, cold-blooded and perfect.

Margaret Atwood

***********************

:hi:

RL

[hisownpetard]

1. I really like Margaret Atwood and think she has been under-appreciated for her

work which I find to be concise and fat-free.

She actually reminds me of Dickinson a lot.

Thanks, RL!!

(Are you feeling all better?)

[RetroLounge]

2. I think Dickinson is over-appreciated...

and yes, a bit better...

:hi:

RL

[hisownpetard]

3. Ha-hah Me, too! (There are not many of us, either).

:toast:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. My dear Retro!

Oh, this is nice!

Snakes just lend themselves to this sort of elegant, spare poetry...

D H Lawrence had at least one poem about them too, which I greatly admired...

Just beautiful!

Thank you...

:hi:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. cool

thanks

[xchrom]

6. one of my fav atwood poems!