Funneling the Muse
I happened to hear the word "funnel" yesterday and for some reason it stuck in my consciousness. I decided to give it to myself as a prompt a la One Word. As I was on the Metro on the way to Greenbelt to see my sons, the association with geese flying occurred to me and the rest came together on the bus.
Funnel A flock of geese
funnels down the sky
aiming vaguely southward
though it's late winter and
an ashy scrim of clouds
spits cold drops mixed
with bits of ice
that stick in my hair
while I'm waiting
for a bus far from home
and the wind slices
at my coat.
Nevertheless my eyes
follow the V of geese
until long after they
have disappeared.
Funnel any comments to me at your convenience.
posted by Greg at 1:22 PM
2 Comments:
The language is, as ever, lovely; you do have such a good way with words. But ... here goes my inner New Yorker (as in Block That Metaphor).
Something to do with how it's the shape the geese were making that made you think of a funnel, not that they were really "funneling," or even being funneled.
The verb funnel implies physics, something flowing through a narrow opening. Pastry through the narrow end of a big bag, liquid into a bottle ...
But I like the way it sounds, "funnels down the sky," anyway, so thanks, Greg, glad you're better...
Your comment is welcome and quite understandable. The only reason I have for not revising is that the shape of the flock in turn suggested a sort of narrow passage, even though in reality they had the entire sky. I guess I was feeling the sort of constraint that nature imposes that causes the geese to form the V-shape rather than some other.
Thanks for a careful and thoughtful reading and your kind praise!
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