Guest Poet Jason Visconti
When Breath is Beautiful
It's usually told in our histories
if we swap stories, if we're able to speak
bluntly about blossoms that strangulate the heart
and bloom in memory, if we're able to articulate
the lightest buzzard sounds in spring
crawl into our mouths and find our voice
snap close its wings and raise an octave
above the lingering things that break our breath in two,
if all this happens of course breath's beautiful.
May, 2001
Jason Visconti's Questions:
Do I express how we must engage the ugly as well as the beautiful without sounding obscure? Are phrases like " blossoms that strangulate the heart"
too far-fetched, or do I pull it off?
I love sound and music in poetry. Are my line-breaks working here, my rhythm, or perhaps
I am relying too much on ear and not enough on sense? Is there an in-between that could make this poem work?
Thank you very much for your time in considering my work.
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