Rose
Posted by: petersz (24.7.62.---)
Date: June 07, 2022 08:13PM

Rose

I came to you, rose of the morning,
For the soft dew on your stem,
The thickness of green and yellow and brown,
The wind that could not help itself before your red.
Elemental, full-throated, every passing bird,
It seems,
Pays homage to your independence.

Rose of the afternoon, embrace me in
My dormant dream—
I know I shall not be awake.
The cannons are still in the bright noon sun.
The bleeding, slow, reptilian, elastic.

Here is the salt of mercy, in your petals.
I taste forgiveness, renewal.
Firm up the day; take up the growing sky –
Hold it high, beyond cloud,
Beyond desire,
Beyond the urge to seem beyond.

This evening, rose, lay down with me.
I taste the wild wind.
Ancestral drums beat in my temples.
There is no relief in what has passed—
No promise before me—
Except what you and I, rose, bring into ourselves—
A sensual, sensuous composition—
Laid out in ease and meditation,
Without revelation.
I hold you to your freedom.

01/07
[www.youtube.com] = ‘Rose’ from Approximations. Monday, June 8, 2022 after H. D. Moe’s reading at Greco Caffe.

Peter:

I was absolutely hooked after the first four lines and remained that way throughout...the wind that could not help itself before your red... wonderful imagery.

Joe

Thank you, Joseph. My friend from New York wrote that she liked this one, so I read it at a coffee house last week, hence the YouTube version.

Peter

Peter, I enjoyed the read and the reading. It is always enlightening to hear a poem read by the author, the stresses and pauses are important clues to the author's intended meaning. That meaning helps bring the work to life. Thanks for sharing the audio with us.

I recall hearing a taped version of Dylan Thomas reading "Do Not Go Gentle into that Goodnight" which changed forever the way I interpret the poem. [www.poets.org] />
Les

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2021 01:15PM by les712.

Thanks Peter...I liked very much. It was nice to see a face to put with a name on here.

Thanks, Les and Aaron, that was exactly why I tacked the link to the poem. Th live, audible performance is an entry to the poem, and faces always add to the interpretation.

Thanks for visiting,

Peter

Peter;
Thanks for the added link. Amazing the difference in the voice I gave the poem and the voice you give in your reading.

Not a criticism, but an ovservation -- because it is a very beautiful poem. I read it at a faster tempo and with more excitement, especially in the middle stanzas. It reads to me with more of a celebratory tone than you seem to place in your voice.

But I don't know you and maybe that is your celebratory voice, or I just interpret it differently. Either way. Bravo for bringing it to life!
Steve

Enjoyed the poem and reading, Peter.

Mary

Thanks, Mary,

Peter