By Yesu Ben
(Catching your S1's Winter Chills)
Long grey days of standstill, days of desolate frost;
Winter childbirths gloomiest thoughts, of loved ones we have lost.
Why heavy feelings come – why linger with the snow;
Why when there's no sun solacing, why when even sprouts can’t grow.
This stretches on and on, this sea of white and grey;
Its beauty simply is not real, like
mem’ry dimmed away.
NB
(it's called a Poulter's Measure- alternating between 12 and 14. Poulter of course has to do with chicken, poultry. Thus the 12 for eggs are usually sold by the dozen. I chose the long lines of this form for they kind of create a feeling that this world is oppressive, since the reading is slowed. The rhymed couplets hopefully mirror in the pair of interrogative echos of L3 and L4 as well as the paired phrases of L5. I try to hinge at the center of the line to elaborate or to echo and to extend description. Try it)
Photo: At home with Lily
Snow in Orange
June 10, 2021
