Guest Poet Caroline Seagle
clockwork amore
(in toscana)
The thing ignored: it was love.
Gone, fallen--
suddenly leaning on strength
in his room,
cutting out words
repasting music
inside of me--
a trapped movement.
(I'm forgetting language)
The return to it:
Time (stop)
Distance
is not (but it is)
expressing this thing
experiencing this thing
this mess, together.
I started this with loving him.
Me: insomniac of love,
trying to salvage
an hour, a minute,
a lifetime, wanting
to throw the machine,
the idea against the wall and
break it
(but I know I'll need it tomorrow).
Nothing survives, only
uncertainly; only
the way he breathed
two months ago,
only the eyes of sleep
open, making love to
rememberance.
June, 2002
Caroline Seagle's questions:
1.) What is the effect of my use of parentheses? That
is, "Time (stop)" and "Distance/is not (but it
is)"...etc. Does the reader sense the contrast I am
trying to convey between two different voices? The
sense of confusion and haste?
2.) Does the reader pick up on the idea of "Time"
presented throughout the poem, the struggle with time
("the machine, the idea")? Can the reader sense the
connection between 'Time' and 'Distance'?
3.) I use the word "love" frequently in this poem.
This is always a difficult word.. Does this come off
as sounding cliched or is it accepted as being an
honest account of the speaker's feelings? A heavy or
light effect?
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