Apr 22
The Landscape of Her Body
the sun’s light lies sharp
a slash across the clearing
meanwhile there grows
in the shadow
only the landscape
of her body— splintered
into what is past and
what is yet to come
she is simply an empty space
a scattering of dry brown reeds
cluttered and clattering
rough and rasping: her song
comes in snatches
dim then keen— listen
she is a dream once lost
among sorrows and songs
listen in the boundary
of shadow and light
look in the broken
disused reeds
there—there is the landscape
of her body splintered
Pamela Olson, 4/22/09
For Read Write Poem’s prompt
to use 5 random lines from
different poets
The lines came from the following:
Pablo Neruda’s “Phantom”
Natasha Threthewey’s “What is Evidence
William Stafford’s “One Evening”
Elizabeth Bishop’s “View of the Capitol
from the Library of Congress”
Ranier Maria Rilke’s “I Love the Dark Hours
of My Being”
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“Meanwhile there grows in the shadow” from Pablo Neruda’s poem, “Phantom”.
“Only the landscape of her body– splntered” from Natasha Trethewey’s poem, “What is Evidence”
“a scattering of dry brown reeds cluttered” from William Stafford’s poem, “One Evening”
“it comes in snatches, dim then keen” from Elizabeth Bishop’s poem, “View of the Capitol from the Library of Congress” and
“a dream once lost among sorrows and songs” from Ranier Maria Rilke’s poem, “I Love the Dark Hours of My Being”.
eciting how you have pulled this together…i love it…neruda certainly one of my favs
You chose such wonderful lines, and put them together into a wonderful poem. Great job!
This is wonderful!
Beautifully done! Thank you for sharing!
http://bsquared86.blogspot.com/2009/04/poetically-correct-napowrimo-remix.html
This is very intriguing – not only for what you’ve written, but the whole exercise of it. I’ve included a borrowed line in a poem on occasion. Now you’ve got me thinking!
A technique I’ve used is to pick about 50 words randomley from the dictionary–ensuring a good mix of nouns, verbs, and adjectives–and write a poem utilizing each of those words. Some VERY interesting results and a good way to kick-start your creativity. Another way is to just leaf through a number of non-poetry books, selecting short phrases that appeal to you in some way, and use those in the same manner as above.
Poems don’t always have to come from our conscious minds–the subconscious wants to find its voice too…
I really love this! The weaving of the lines is seamless!
Yeah, nicely put together!