Hmmm... if you add a comma after the word "by", it becomes two different poems (one highlighting Poem as a force; the second illustrating a noted consequence.)
(1) without comma: the emphasis is on CAUSE (poem "moves by making us" stop, commanding our attention, forcing us to look/hear. (Archilochus speaks; you can’t not listen.)
(2) with comma: the emphasis is on EFFECT, i.e., the resulting Stillness (poem "moves by, making us" awestruck.)
Your choice of this particular hummingbird for a metaphor for Poem is brilliant. A true gem ("ruby"), its redness the color of fire, passion, joy, and danger, all aspects of the writing of poetry.
This poem not only describes what a poem can sometimes do to a reader, it actually becomes, as Erin (above) confirms, its own best example. An image suddenly comes to mind, of Poet, as "word warbler", and the thought "still/ moving us".
Erin said it better though (and with far, far, FAR less words)! :)
Mmmmm, yes, poems like this.
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erin
Hmmm... if you add a comma after the word "by", it becomes two different poems (one highlighting Poem as a force; the second illustrating a noted consequence.)
ReplyDelete(1) without comma: the emphasis is on CAUSE (poem "moves by making us" stop, commanding our attention, forcing us to look/hear. (Archilochus speaks; you can’t not listen.)
(2) with comma: the emphasis is on EFFECT, i.e., the resulting Stillness (poem "moves by, making us" awestruck.)
Your choice of this particular hummingbird for a metaphor for Poem is brilliant. A true gem ("ruby"), its redness the color of fire, passion, joy, and danger, all aspects of the writing of poetry.
This poem not only describes what a poem can sometimes do to a reader, it actually becomes, as Erin (above) confirms, its own best example. An image suddenly comes to mind, of Poet, as "word warbler", and the thought "still/ moving us".
Erin said it better though (and with far, far, FAR less words)! :)
Thanks, Vassilis!!
Two North American ladybirds making this Southern European "louse" feel better--thanks for picking on me!
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