Friday, July 2, 2010

Body of Summer

Notice if you will, how

The cicada has departed
Its skin and will now

Sing a song stark

Naked, carried on

The back of the wind.



NB
: The title borrowed from
Elytis's "Body of Summer," 1943, which begins thusly:

O body of summer, naked, burnt
Eaten away by oil and salt

Body of rock and shudder of the heart

Great ruffling wind in the osier hair

Breath of basil above the curly pubic mound
Full of stars and pine needles
Body, deep vessel of the day!

3 comments:

  1. Marvelous! Summer is the season I write about least and so I need other poets to speak of it for me. I love the way you capture the very spirit of transformation...;

    ReplyDelete
  2. I second Joseph's comment on transformation.

    I hear a little cicada music in the lines, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Joe and Conrad,

    Thanks--I'm pleased you both commented positively on this piece. Note also that cicadas are such an overwhelming aural presence in rural Greece that at times you can't even hear yourself think! =:0)!!!

    ReplyDelete

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