Odin’s day Night
I wrap a poor turn
of grizzled hope
around the moon
so frayed
I wrap it in the too
opulent velvet
of a voice
opulent velvet
of a voice
so dark
singing the
old
sagas of inamoratas
journeys' endings
rhymes of baldur's fall
monks' canted fragments
figments of
gods and demons
queens and fools
past and future
love and death.
The night sky is freckled
with perseid’s white splash,
droplets of star burning
strained through the alembic
of a staring nullity
defining my preterition,
sizzling like the rasp
of some old god’s laugh
rough from a silence
passing paleology.
How their light runs
fleet suns of Perseus
skittering across
night’s spread table
a howl on the ripped nail
of moon splintering
on Odin’s day
night as remote
as the face behind
a blue electric vow,
close as
the corvine quark
tumbling sable japes.
That laughter in the air,
yelling from the beaks of crows
falls high above
beyond the circling light;
how the void must ring with it
time out of mind
IN PERPETUUM.
~August 2011
This poem will be included in Gemini/Scorpio/Capricorn, the upcoming poetry collection from ALL CAPS PUBLISHING, which will also feature large delicious slabs of poetry from the inimitable Fireblossom and the always amazing
Mama Zen
Thanks, Shay, for dragging me kicking and screaming into your book,
and thanks to Marian Kent for helping us make it possible.
If you'd like to hear the poem read by the author, please click below:
Odin's Day Night by Hedgewitch O'theWilds
posted for dVerse Poets open link night
This poem will be included in Gemini/Scorpio/Capricorn, the upcoming poetry collection from ALL CAPS PUBLISHING, which will also feature large delicious slabs of poetry from the inimitable Fireblossom and the always amazing
Mama Zen
Thanks, Shay, for dragging me kicking and screaming into your book,
and thanks to Marian Kent for helping us make it possible.
If you'd like to hear the poem read by the author, please click below:
Odin's Day Night by Hedgewitch O'theWilds
posted for dVerse Poets open link night
Image: 2005_1011night047, by peadar on flick'r
Shared under a creative commons license
nice...as always, love your blend of myth...and had to look a few things us this time...inamoratas...interesting word...love what you paired it with through that section though...
ReplyDeletecool change of font in that last word as well...almost inscription like...the back to back day night...def some cool touches along the way hedge...
and so cool on the book...some hedge on my shelf wont be a bad thing at all...
Odin's Day is on the morrow.
ReplyDeleteAs for today...Fetch me some Mead Wench!
(They should name a day after YOU)
They did--Wenchday. ;_) So Odin and I have even more in common.
DeleteLOL Wenchday.
DeleteA wonderful write and so cool about the book-congrats!
ReplyDeleteyou've taken us out beyond the edge. I feel I'm on a shamanistic journey with Odin... blue, corvine, and sable. this is luscious dark, and open. Congrats on your publication. I am thrilled for you.
ReplyDeleteRich write, a lot to think about. Congrats on the forthcoming book! That's exciting.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the book!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ayala, Stephen, Teresa, Jane. Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteLots of lines to like, but I pick:
ReplyDeletesizzling like the rasp
of some old god's laugh
First, Joy, congrats on the book, and congrats to MZ and Shay also. You are a great trio, your styles different but with each with a very sharp eye and wonderful voice.
ReplyDeleteI am Swedish and Norwegian both in background so feel very embarrassed that I know so little about any kind of Norse mythology or Odin. But this seems to me to be about the travail of the poet, using the rich tools of language and myth, but feeling japed at, scorned, nonetheless, outshone by even relatively random burning rocks. (I can't help but think of the images of that meteorite in Siberia - it would outshine quite a bit.)
The In Perpetuum written a bit like a tombstone. (Oh dear!) The laughter in the dark might just go on forever.
Your long phrases here are really like a kind of weaving; the wrapping of the poor turn. (Not so poor.) All of this language is so foreign to me, but it reminds me a bit - and I'm probably very off - of the Circus Animals' Desertion - only here the animals linger to caw. All really interesting. k.
(PS - the tape is a little soft. I don't know if it's my office computer - I'm here due to crazy internet situation at home - but just a note. I could hear it, but if there is a way of making it louder, might be good.) k.
Yes, it was my first recording ever, k, and I used a very primitive mic--but didn't have time to re-record today. Sorry for the poor quality. And like Yeats, I also often feel I must lay down in that rag and bone shop where all the ladders start, but this goes into a deeper dearth and desertion as well, that empty night sky at the end of the long gone god's day. Thanks as ever for reading.
DeleteNo, it's not a bad recording - I just wasn't sure if you knew that the volume is low. I find it very difficult to listen to myself so I am never sure what I've put up. (In my case, it could be just my footsteps or something silly.) Yes, the dearth is clear. I must hate to think of Norse figures disappearing before I really knew anything about them. k.
Delete"rough from a silence
ReplyDeletepassing paleology."
Damn, I wish that I had written that!
There are lines I wish I had written too, like the whole first stanza. I'm glad this will be in the book, because then I'll be able to pull it down at my leisure and explore the names mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark. You can find some info on Baldur here if you'd like--I'm sure you're familiar with Odin.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur
His fall through treachery is a precursor of Ragnarök-- the apocalypse, if you will.
Lovely to hear it aloud. Congratulation on being in the collection.
ReplyDelete"The night sky is freckled
ReplyDeletewith perseid’s white splash"
I do love this
what a wonderful journey your writing is :)
The night sky is freckled...gorgeous! As is this entire poem. I love moon poems (as you totally know), hedgewitch. :)
ReplyDeleteJoy Ann, this is rich, beautiful writing, and this part has kept me thinking about the night sky, which is one of my favourite past times at the end of a long day.
ReplyDelete"The night sky is freckled
with perseid’s white splash"
Congrats to you on the publication along with the other ladies.
Pamela
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI missed out some crucial words that were vital to the comment making any sense whatsoever! doh!
ReplyDeletei'm working out who is which starsign
and its hard to call but i think i'm there!
this makes me go OOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHH!
strained through the alembic
of a staring nullity
defining my preterition,
sizzling like the rasp
of some old god’s laugh
rough from a silence
passing paleology
and around these parts ooossshhhhhhh is quite the compliment! :)
great to hear you are printing some and in great company too, should be a special collection . . . great to hear an as-ever wicked reading, that chills my blood, bringing it close to something resembling warm . . . the Iceman Loveth!!!
all the best Joy! :)
Thanks, Arron--afa the zoological signage, I am the one with the cloven hoof--afa as your blood, you may have a reptilian squint at times, but it still seems to me to be primate warm.
DeleteHedge, this piece is magnificent, from your word choices and how effectively considered, to the fantastic merger of mythic imagery/reference. Love this piece. Thanks
ReplyDeleteThe first stanza is a superb opening. And then we get lines like:
ReplyDeleteThe night sky is freckled.
I'd also like to pick up Fred's appreciative remark concerning the mythic imagery.
This is a powerful piece of work!
I worked a little w. google for this one...and well worth it. Love your cosmic/myth trip with gorgeous language :) Congrads on the inclusion in anthology, Hedge!
ReplyDeletePacked with mythology and mysticism... great piece!
ReplyDeleteNecessary and earth rich poetry that sings a song we long to hear again and again. I am thrilled to hear it will be published, your work is so deserving of the printed page. You could not ask for finer colleagues. Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteI can sometimes take the days for granted, but never the nights, with stars and moon and all the other things that will not live in bright light. This is a fine excursion to those neighborhoods.
ReplyDelete