Wednesday, April 22, 2009

FAVORITE POEM #12

Celebrate National Poetry Month!!


"Spotted Flowers on a Tabletop" oil on canvas in artist's painted frame 35.25" x 29.25" x 1.5" $2400

Today's favorite comes from amazing writer/artist Sarah Rakes, creator of the gorgeous painting above. Check out more of her paintings at Marcia Weber's online gallery.

Returning to Earth

I'm getting very old. If I were a mutt
in dog years I'd be seven, not stray so far.
I am large. Tarpon my age are often large
but they are inescapably fish. A porpoise
my age was the King of New Guinea in 1343.
Perhaps I am the king of my dogs, cats, horses
but I have dropped any notion of explaining
to them why I read so much. To be mysterious
is a prerogative of kingship. I discovered
lately that my subjects do not live a life,
but are life itself. They do not recognize
the pain of the schizophrenia of kingship.
To them I am pretty much a fellow creature.

- Jim Harrison

Sarah says, "Jim Harrison uses sharp images to expresses the everyday sacred and takes common verbs and turns them into royalty." And isn't that exactly what we writers strive to do?

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to have to start studying your blog because I am a poetry dunce...

    I never understand them - so I LOVED that bit that you put at the end that helped me read the above.

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BEAUTIFUL painting. I love how Sarah said the poet takes common verbs and turns them into royalty. Poetically put!

    ReplyDelete

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