Tuesday, July 4, 2006

Fluent with audio


powered by ODEO

Fluent

If I spoke a language other than drawl,
I'd have words other than my own
to say blue and green and hazy.

I'd tell you how summer has shredded
the Southern sky - made a montage
of Brazilian bits and Caribbean strips,
woven with a breeze of tropical sea.

With a Bahama-watercolor tongue
I'd paint the shades of my garden
and whisper how the Nile has descended
as a haze too thick to breathe.

But I speak strictly Dixie,
and it's Waxhaw Creek that babbles
over the fall of my backbone
and Lake Wylie that laps at my breasts.

Here,
peach-heavy branches bring the sun down,
and blackberry brambles swallow it whole.
It's strawberries and butternut squash
that climb the evening sky, and day
disappears into a glass of muscadine wine and thunder.

10 comments:

  1. Oooh! Erin I love this! The imagery is SO... THICK! It's absolutely wonderful!

    Oh, and happy birthday too!! I hope you get all of the fireflies and s'mores you desire.

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi; my first time here. I'll be coming back. Love that bursting harvest in your last verse. Yvonne is right; it's thick and sweet as syrup or liqueur.

    ReplyDelete
  3. yes yes yes wow
    this is so perfect,
    I like 'hazy' the best,
    oh and when you say 'my breasts', ooooeee!
    the poem is awesome too!

    Happy birthday Erin!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Erin this is just so packed with imagery and originality - I'm envious :-)
    In the audio i was struck by your use of assonance and alliteration eg.
    summer has shredded
    the Southern sky - made a montage
    of Brazilian bits and Caribbean strips

    Then the way you personify the landscape ! And finally you paint an amazing picture.
    Excellent writing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is SO GOOD, Erin! Great writing! Hope you had a great 4th of July....

    ReplyDelete
  6. PS Why don't you record this one? Hope your birthday was celebrated with fireworks. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Erin, I rarely read anything of yours that I don't find to be a true work of art, but this... this is what poetry is MEANT to be.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is beauiful, Erin. I keep coming back to read it again. Beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  9. thick as molasses, I'd say, with wonderful imagery.

    i savored this.

    ReplyDelete