DOUGLAS OLIVER \/ THE HERON
\n(In memoriam: 1937-2000)
\necopoetics 1<\/p>\n
I like this poem very much. At first reading, I felt an old-fashionedness about it, that caused resistance. I would call it Romantic. Looking again, it is an examination of mind moments, particularly mind moments around birds. I have a lot of them, too, and it intrigues me that this poet put them together and made a poem. Maybe it’s nostalgic, maybe it’s instructive. He touches on the stasis of memory, peculiar enough when it’s a memory of birds. <\/p>\n
Low moment: two comparisons of flocks of birds to litters of puppies<\/p>\n
High moments: two. <\/p>\n
First, a reminder of a word without using the word, quite a neat end run around a lurking clich\u00c3\u00a9. <\/p>\n
Together, they would pack the sky like moving embroidery
\nin the white silks, browns and blacks of their great tribe,<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis is quite skillful. The poet uses embroidery and silks, and this metaphor stayed with me as an odd choice for a couple of days, until the word “skein” rose up in my mind and I said Oh, yeah. <\/p>\n
Second, the description of heron takeoff. Anyone who has seen a heron take off knows it is a spectacular moment among moments of bird observation. Daring of a poet to take it on, and I think this captures it well. <\/p>\n
Its shoulders unshackle and heave, legs become the addendum,
\nthe beak stabs out purposefully from the sunken neck.
\nIt sails.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nI like how he doesn’t describe the big wings, but “shoulders unshackle” really does it for me. <\/p>\n
So here we are with an invitation to craft a descriptive poem from a lot of moments of bird memory. Romantic. Shouldn’t I be writing about birds covered with oil? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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