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Soft light
came though haze and through breezes
at me while you
filled up my arms from within.
That light
may be dying
and you
may be smiling:
these mays,
all a ghost
on the
wind
(And
always,
at a distance,
I've seen
that light
out spreading as
fast as I run:
“Come near,
be contented.” I've
chased it.
Lamented. But lo,
you are warm.
you are warm.
And it's gone).
* Thanks Krista L.(sunset – Isla Vista, CA), Dani B. (beach legs), Julie P. (mist trees & A.M.P. wearing a laurel and the sun), Bill Brandt (sun-bather – East Sussex, 1953), Harold Edgerton (back dive, 1954), & Howard R. Hollem (Lucille Mazure, working on blackout lamps – Milwaukee, 1943) for making this collage full.
ReplyDeleteLast line originally “... she's gone”: {la luz}, Light is feminine; {la esperanza}, Hope is feminine.
I have to say it again, I love the shape of your poems. I perceive the shape of this poem as a delicate band of light waving back and forth. I take it that this is a poem about personal loss. The focus of the poem is light, *pun intended* and light serves rather well as being an identifying symbol for loved ones just because light is bright, beautiful, and in this case, fades away over time which commemorates the loss. I imagine that the light “spreading” is a representation of the loved one passing away. And what follows is mourning. This is a lovely poem, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete(The poem was actually intended to be about "found" rather than "lost": what takes the place of the uncatchable sun, that folly-cradled hope? the warm person inside your arms as you watch that light set into the ocean.)
DeleteI have to agree that the shape of the poem is amazing and makes the poems stand out a lot more. I feel like the structure is shaped like a classic wave, whether it be light, or the ocean, or a heart beat. It seems to me like the person is always chasing something he lost, namely love. The subject in the poem is trying to bargain for his love or his life. I think it can be related to any kind of potential lost the reader is feeling. I don't think that it's specifically about death because the person is still warm, which doesn't signify death usually. There is a definitive idea of love and happiness in the poem. Maybe the love isn’t even a real person but a feeling that is filling up the man and creating this sense of fulfillment. This feeling might be gone by the end of the poem but it was once there and it missed. Yet it is spread on to someone else and someone else is feeling that contentment that comes with the love and light.
DeleteWhat first attracted me to “Hope’s Replacement” was the dwindling shape of the poem. The swirl down the page represents the loss of the sunlight as it dwindles away, yet the warmth that remains from the lover. The impermanence of the shape of the poem is similar to the temporary light on the ocean. The poem, itself drew me in due to the way you write about love. It is not entirely romanticized, but it very realistic. Love can be a sense of light, warmth in love. The “light may be dying” on top of unknown ocean parallels how love is positive, but its end is unknown, slowly dying away. These “mays all a ghost on the wind” the passing of a prime, high point can be taken away as easily and natural as the wind. The following stanza is when the speaker finds what their looking for, verses the first stanza focusing on what is lost. The light’s constant distance from the speaker shows the intangibility light or love seems to be. Then, the speaker finds warmth with his love and concidently, the light disappears.
ReplyDelete