Do not mourn the loss of poetry
It is everywhere still, in the limp,
shrivelled sheet, feebly blocking
the heat from the glass window.
In the wires dangling spidery
behind that box of numbing images.
In the equations staring up dyslexic,
there is a pattern jumping out.
Do not lament the loss of poetry
It is there still, in a life gone everyday.
You have instant metre as Sol marches
askew from solstice to equinox,
and in the rapid ballet of Luna,
there is a verse to be, in shadows crossing
the asphalt of your urbanarium and
in the moving boxes containing your life.
Do not despair, if poetry leaves you,
the archaeologists will come to find
meaning in your pots and pans.
Gloom crept in among the clutter
of a life gone prosaic. There has to be
poetry in there, somewhere.
Hena Pillai lives in Pune, India. From her vantage atop some tall city concrete, she keeps watch on a dry, brown hill as it puts on its monsoon green.
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14 Responses to “SEEKING PATTERN • by Hena Pillai”
Comments
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September 9th, 2009 at 1:55 am
I like this poem and I especially like the line “there is a pattern jumping out.” because that’s how I see things too. I think this poem is saying more about current life than I can catch at the moment. The descriptions seem to be more about decrepitude of neighborhood, possibly loss of people, than of loss of poetry which remains as long as people remain.
I have some question about the final stanza which seems to imply an opposition between pots and pans and poetry and which contradicts the meaning of the preceding stanzas. Does poetry come to life only in ivory towers?
September 9th, 2009 at 6:01 am
Love this one, Hena! There IS poetry in everything — even if we are (hopefully only temporarily) unable to see it. Thank you!
September 9th, 2009 at 7:26 am
This is exactly what I love poetry to do: reveal itself in bits of every day life. Beautiful.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Lovely piece, Hena.
–dj
September 9th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Beauty. Truth. Poetry.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
My, my! 6/5 I think we never had before! Well done indeed!
September 9th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Fabulously beautiful, Hena! This is a poem one can quote from. I would have given it a ten if that were allowed!
September 9th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Thank you so much Roberta, PSC, Kathleen, dj, Sharon, Oonah, Rumjhum. About the last stanza Roberta, yes there’s a change in tone, going back to despair again.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:44 am
I love it!
September 11th, 2009 at 1:45 am
wonderful
September 12th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Joan and Carol, thank you.
October 10th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
My favorite line:
“Do not despair, if poetry leaves you,
the archaeologists will come to find
meaning in your pots and pans.”
October 28th, 2009 at 8:25 am
A worse worry than “poetry leaving you”: poetry accepted only if buoying up soft notions of undisturbing tranquil beauty or the glorious display of the disbelieved supernatural, but inspiring for kids anyway.
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:25 am
What a beautiful poem!
I too was especially struck by lines:
“Do not despair, if poetry leaves you,
the archaeologists will come to find
meaning in your pots and pans.”
Excellent!