Thursday, June 11, 2009

Pattern

Tile

I laid it out for you
like tiles black and white
on the bathroom floor
and you still wouldn’t see
it you kept adding
yellow or red and
it’s such a simple pattern
I can replicate
until it hits the wall.


This poem is new. I have another new one as well, but I'm especially happy with this one. I was at a very fine musical event the other night and the phrase "black and white" was used in a song in more or less the same sense as here. It got me thinking and I wrote this poem in the train on the way home.

I'll post the other new work soon.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Alan M. said...

It suddenly dawned on me that I haven't read your poetry in a while. Am I still on your "new @ EB" email updates?

Quick thought: I'm not sure why, but I especially like the final two lines -- "I can replicate until it hits the wall."

Quick story: My daughter writes a poem for school, and gives it to me to read. I say: "Uh, sweetie, the point you made in line #8 is the same as line #3."
She looks at me like I'm nuts. "Dad, it's called repetition."
"Oh. Right. Okay, one other thought: Your poem is about how quickly the day goes by. Maybe you should give some examples."
"Great idea."
[she makes some changes, and brings back the new version]
"These images of lightning and gazelles are nice," I say, "but maybe you want to begin with an example of how your day actually starts - with breakfast."
She rolled her eyes and laughed.
(Can't say I blame her! This poetry thing isn't my strong suit. :-) )

9:46 AM  

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