The
Surface
It has a hole in
it. Not only where I
concentrate.
The
river still ribboning, twisting up,
into its re-
arrangements, chill
enlightenments, tight-knotted
quickenings
and
loosenings--whispered messages dissolving
the
messengers--
the
river still glinting-up into its handfuls, heapings.
glassy
forgettings under the river
of
my
attention--
and
the river of my attention laying itself down--
bending,
reassembling--over the quick
leaving-offs and windy
obstacles--
and
the surface rippling under the wind's attention--
rippling over the
accumulations, the slowed-down drifting
permanences
of
the cold
bed.
I
say iridescent and I look down.
The
leaves very still as they are carried.
There are so many different surfaces in the world. Whether it's rough or smooth,
dry or wet, soft or hard. Surfaces hold us, things, everything. I believe they
are essential to our survival. In Jorie Graham's poem "The Surface" she combines
the surface, the river, with wind. A leave carried in the wind across the water.
It's such a simple topic, but yet Graham's writing style is intriguing. The
whispering of the wind is a secret message for us humans. The leaves are the
messages, flying over the river's surface waiting to get collected and read. But
when they hit the surface, they leave holes. The style of this poem is very
appealing and new as well. 23 lines, some of them only contain on word. Graham
uses a lot punctuation to set a mood for the poem. The various use of
caesurae paces the poem. It's different, which I like. The word
"iridescent" is italicized in the second to last line. Why? It's a beautiful
word. It means the showing of various colors that seen to change when see from
different directions. This perfectly applied to the water. The colors of the
water change with every new position. That's what makes it so special.
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