in the street of the sky night walks scattering poems
(e.e. cummings)
(e.e. cummings)
in our cities and towns, we do not see
the vast landscape of the sky:
street after street is full
of the tiny false lights of earth –
the electric radiance makes a haze
sky-obscuring, sky-dimming, sky-shrinking;
night in its glory appears only as a street – and who
walks in that street? it looks badly-lit, a mere
scattering of pin-prick stars insufficient to light
poems, lovers or the sky itself ...
**********
**********
in the wild places, though (some do remain)
the expanse of sky, fully revealed, is nothing like any
street; it is an ocean, and we sail anywhere in the ship
of waking dreams, of eye-rapture, of endless delight; there
the stars are myriad, countless, bright,
sky-filling, sky-spilling, sky-illuminating, sky-extending –
night is an opening into the whole universe, where the mind
walks in amazement, in a joy that stretches thought and confounds sight,
scattering, as the fortunate have discovered,
poems of unfathomable dark – poems of multiplying light
Written for the prompt, at the edge of starry night, for 'imaginary garden with real toads', where our frame of reference is the last line of an e.e. cummings poem, which has become the title of this one and also the first words of my lines, making a double word-acrostic.
Seeing the night sky where there are no lights is the most wondrous thing, indeed a place where the mind walks in amazement.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love the idea of poems making the light brighter. I love it. And believe it, too.
ReplyDeleteAcrostic poems are fun. You did well. I hadn't realized what form it was until I read your end remarks. The first set showed,a lovely place, quite a contrast from the second.
ReplyDelete..
I love those 'tiny false lights of earth' and the repetition in the line:
ReplyDelete'sky-obscuring, sky-dimming, sky-shrinking'
which creates the image of millions of lights hazing the sky. I also love 'night in its glory appears only as a street'. And then the poem opens up into the wild places,
the expanse of sky:
'...it is an ocean, and we sail anywhere in the ship
of waking dreams, of eye-rapture, of endless delight; there
the stars are myriad, countless, bright,
sky-filling, sky-spilling, sky-illuminating, sky-extending'
and this time the repetition fills the sky with stars - and poems!
Oh absolutely! The magic of the night and radiance of the sky is dimmed by "false lights of earth"
ReplyDelete... sigh such a wise perspective on the prompt! 💞
I read somewhere, "that electric lights are the enemy of the intellect." Night skies are to be protected. I enjoyed your write.
ReplyDeletethe use of the repetition, in both poems, (well, actually, it's a conversation of sorts, although either holds its own weight too) - is most wonderful, and really adds energy to each piece, the one - darker, heavier, the sense of loss for unnaturally over-bright, where nothing wishes to stir and spark or inspire ... and then, in the second, oh those words, turned around, and pace us right into a resounding "yes!" - let us dream, and navigate under the starry realms ....
ReplyDeleteinteresting approach to the prompt Rosemary and clever tricks, the double acrostic - and since this is a double times two - then well, LOL - in my lands, we have "double doubles'" (refers to a type of coffee available at our "national" coffee shops) - so, here we are, a double double poem, to satisfy :)
That sounds like some powerful coffee! LOL. I'm glad if my poem satisfies so well. (I see it as one poem in two parts.)
Deletea street vs. an ocean. What an amazing poem. False lights vs. Wild spaces. A poem to make one take action to make important changes.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing the sky without all the electric interference. That is how I grew up. It is along a dirt road in the farm country of Missouri I learned to appreciate the beauty and inspiration of the night sky.
ReplyDeleteThere s nothing more wonderful than REALLY seeing it, like that. I once lived four years in a rural area where I could, and years later spent some time on a boat travelling around a wild part of our coast. And I saw it from my grandparents' home in my childhood, when we had long visits. But oh, so seldom, and never any more.
DeleteYour poem has a dreamy quality and I really enjoyed reading it .....
ReplyDeleteThat is the glory of observing the night sky in the country outback areas of Australia with no lights at all except the moon ans stars shining alone in a glorious spectacle that is mind blowing.
ReplyDeletelove the 2 part contrast - the "tiny false lights of earth –" vs "of eye-rapture, of endless delight; " - we city poets though must make poems from the pin prick stars
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely piece.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the unpolluted night sky, is a magical moment, which one truly feels humbled and understands our own place, within the universe: a mere ant, trying to scramble away from larger uncaring creatures, about to step upon us. How I wish I had photos of the night sky of rural southern Ontario, as my dad drove back from visiting my Oma and Opa place.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have to be a very good camera to do justice to such a vista.
Delete