" Ed è bel modo rettorico, quando di fuori pare la cosa disabbellirsi, e dentro veramente s'abbellisce." (Dante)
________
Well, without the name how stunningly serene and sweet both Smiths can be
(such as I've met them, drawn to their bells and heat)
Now there's Smith I see grown to an infinitesimally cute orchard lot, hips and boots
tramped into mud & her quietly retracting vines,
who's dove-sweet in just that way: as I'd imagined it in one corner of eye. But lovely, too,
is Smith the portrait and any of her poetical breeds, drawn from brow
to her elegant chin. Again, a lumbering sort of road ahead and she were mated, to me,
as the portrait of any sweetly doughty matron can certainly be--
I'd say, in fact, the Smith I see and that other's sweet doughty pic really can be the same
to the runner who dreams such disparities as these,
but primarily that between a Lady and some imagined mud on the road ahead
_____________________
*Poem inspired by a portrait of Mrs. E.D.Smith which hangs in the Red Carriage House at the Erland Lee estate but dedicated to the elderly-elegant Mrs.Smith who still resides in her clapboard house beside an abandoned orchard.
Well, without the name how stunningly serene and sweet both Smiths can be
(such as I've met them, drawn to their bells and heat)
Now there's Smith I see grown to an infinitesimally cute orchard lot, hips and boots
tramped into mud & her quietly retracting vines,
who's dove-sweet in just that way: as I'd imagined it in one corner of eye. But lovely, too,
is Smith the portrait and any of her poetical breeds, drawn from brow
to her elegant chin. Again, a lumbering sort of road ahead and she were mated, to me,
as the portrait of any sweetly doughty matron can certainly be--
I'd say, in fact, the Smith I see and that other's sweet doughty pic really can be the same
to the runner who dreams such disparities as these,
but primarily that between a Lady and some imagined mud on the road ahead
_____________________
*Poem inspired by a portrait of Mrs. E.D.Smith which hangs in the Red Carriage House at the Erland Lee estate but dedicated to the elderly-elegant Mrs.Smith who still resides in her clapboard house beside an abandoned orchard.
If only she knew..
4 comments:
your poetic strength married once more to artwork -- thanks for capturing all of this, Conrad. we missed you yesterday at the Quern launch -- hope today is doing better for you.
Thanks, brother--
helluva great time to get sick
Conrad:
I like this poem, I think primarily because of the shifting, piquant tone. It's unsettled, and yet sure of itself--confident it will keep landing on its feet as it does yet one more turn in the air.
Let's have more.
thank you, good sir
Yes, right on the mark: "unsettled and yet sure of itself". I mean how else do you try to marry a portrait of an elegant Victorian lady to the troubling mud in my soul. I get the strangest vibes when I run..
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