IMAGE OF EARTH AND QUILL

Guest Poet Janie Whisenhunt



The Morning

Cloudy moisture rises,
criss crossed with fragmented light.
The sun shines orange through
the Cawtaba tree, leafless now,
but for the bean pods that sway and wait.
I sit at the table with folded hands
and look to the window.
I want to see how morning light
casts shadows upon ferns and red impatience,
intertwined beneath the worm holder.
Winter's cold approaches
and I don't care;
light glares through the blinds
into my squinted eyes.
I want to see,
but can't.

So I sit in the morning sun,
sheltered behind the window.
I draw my legs against my chest
and make a narrow canopy.
It secures
my head upon my knees,
away from the light
and shields
these burning eyes.
They're closed now and I see
only darkness
sprinkled with red.


April, 1999


Janie Whisenhunt's Questions:

What do you think this poem is about? 

I have been told it is too vague and as the writer, of course I know what it is about. 

#2. This concerns the line break, would you have done them differently?  I think maybe some of the lines are too long, but am not sure. 

#3.  I have fallen in love with this form, but maybe I should put my efforts somewhere else?

Thanks!!!!!!


Correspond with Janie Whisenhunt at
DWhise4126@aol.com
with your ideas about this poem.



The Albany Poetry Workshop