Reading Round the Rosebud
Yvonne Blumer. Landscapes and Home: ghazals. (Lantzville, B.C.: Leaf Press, 2011)
From the ninth, this sher stands out. It stands in the middle of the ghazal.
The neighbour wants to kill deer that come down from the woods.And like an unfolding bloom, I propose the two adjacent sher be read now:
They nip sweet rosebuds. Going home, a truck flattens two racoons.
This child stands, legs braced against the pain in her ears.And now the two outer sher are added to complete the ghazal.
She screams at her mother. Screams at her father.
The neighbour wants to kill deer that come down from the woods.
They nip sweet rosebuds. Going home, a truck flattens two racoons.
Think: buy a gun; kill a man with five shots. The past followed me.
Animals who are destructive have no right to love.
Africa: a word in my mouth; buried place in my memories.This rippling reading is like memory work or so I imagine it and a good test of the thematic carriage of any given ghazal. Inspired no doubt from having read Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" and its explorations of Semagraphic Thought.
A dog has to be put down. A best friend dies at sixteen.
This child stands, legs braced against the pain in her ears.
She screams at her mother. Screams at her father.
The neighbour wants to kill deer that come down from the woods.
They nip sweet rosebuds. Going home, a truck flattens two racoons.
Think: buy a gun; kill a man with five shots. The past followed me.
Animals who are destructive have no right to love.
Walking toward a funeral procession, I begin to understand things.
My letters come back unopened.
And so for day 2206
27.12.2012
