Anvil of the Sun
The land is an anvil made for the sun to beat
green grass, gold grains, and working heart to dust
when July brings out the hammer of its heat.
The fields are silent but for the combing feet
of locusts’ need. The dancing wheat is hushed.
The land sighs beneath each hot percussive beat.
All blistered day air flaps in a shimmering sheet.
The sun pounds dry the seed beneath the crust
when July brings out the hammer of its heat.
The weapon shop of drought becomes complete;
dead spears of reed, firebombs of grass combust.
The anvil's red and burns with every beat.
Black soil is dead and void as old concrete,
wind arranges the dried flowers with each gust
when July brings out the hammer of its heat
The rain’s run beyond the place horizons meet.
Life does nothing that it wants, just what it must.
The land is an anvil made for the sun to beat
when July brings out the hammer of its heat
July 2011
Posted for Magpie Tales #72
A somber take on Van Gogh's sunny fields, but where I sit today we're well into a streak of triple digit heat and no rain, with 15 of 21 mostly dry days 100 degrees or over since June 14th.
Image: Wheatfield with Rising Sun, by Vincent Van Gogh
provided by Magpie Tales
"black soil is dead and void as old concrete"
ReplyDeleteThat says it all, Witch. Despite the uncomfortable, blasted scene it depicts, the poem has a very nice rhythm to it and is pleasing to the ear.
But can you dance to it? Thanks, dear--I like the villanelle for stuff like this, unemotional, dry, repeating.
ReplyDeletei think i need to go jump in the pool cause i got a sun burn just reading your words...and maybe something to drink...the weapon shop of drought....nice...
ReplyDeleteI relate, since it is very hot here, too. But we will get rain nearly every afternoon this week, so I am loving that!
ReplyDeleteThat is it exactly! Dry, hot, beat upon beat, beautifully done!
ReplyDeleteWhat a satisfying read - it totally encapsulated the feel of the picture.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely no dancing and I'm going for some water after I write this.
ReplyDelete"The fields are silent but for the combing feet of locusts' need."
Amazing.
"Hammer of its heat"...quite a phrase. An explosion of images, so many startling phrases..truly a rush of emotions!
ReplyDeleteAnd they said it was hot last summer .... This is demon song, hammer and tong and the solar forges your homeland is baking in. You've got the perfect pitch of it here, right at the altitude where mercury shatters the temperature gauges. When the elements get this extreme, only poetry comes close to naming the mythic sweep of it. This villanelle's has the heft of Hephaestus's hammer. Now let's see you write some rain dances. - Brendan
ReplyDelete@B: If I were a true hedgewitch, I'd be gathering the shrooms from that other poem, and getting the village together in a henge of some sort for some serious chanting and twirling, I promise.
ReplyDeleteYou captured the unrelenting heat of summer so well.
ReplyDelete(Is poetry truly cheaper than whiskey? I've never sweated blood over a shot of whiskey.)
I'm right there with you, Hedge! My people would dance and bring the rain, but we've got casinos to run.
ReplyDelete"but for the combing feet
of locusts’ need"
Stunning.
@MZ Ha! You've obviously been corrupted by the White Devil's ways. Thanks.
ReplyDelete@Sioux: The shots are cheap--it's the treatments for liver damage that cost ya.
Just shows how much the earth endures from the beatings and the poundings. Brilliantly captured!
ReplyDeletevery powerful exposure of the earth potential.
ReplyDeletelovely magpie.
Your blistered day is so rich with wonderful summer imagery!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant piece. I keep reading and reading. It grows with beauty.
ReplyDeleteyou have captured that furnace of summer perfectly - oh for a gentle breeze and some rain!
ReplyDeletebrilliantly executed poem
warming my chilled fingers
ReplyDeleteat your words. =)
winter is icy and wet here
the contrast feels surreal
This is a masterful villanelle, Hedgewitch. The pounding refrain of ‘hammer of its heat’ was perfectly chosen. Then the tools that heavily represent the summer blast combine with simmering language like ‘shimmering sheet’ and ‘grass combust.’ “Anvil’ is a wonderful word, and placing it for repetition is perfect. I love the rhymes with ‘beat’ especially when you get to ‘concrete’ and it just pops. ‘. . . working heart to dust’ is one of those phrases that links the actual with the abstract in a beautifully poetic way. Awfully fine work.
ReplyDeleteDefinite like, though here where we do not need it we have been getting plenty of rain.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fireblossom I loved that line as well. Absolutely stunning and I think the melancholy suits Van Gogh
ReplyDeleteYou captured the essence of that hammering summer heat perfectly .... I'm thankful to be living on the high desert of Central Oregon ... cool nights requiring down comforters, warm days for driving with the top down.
ReplyDeleteI'm there...living that July heat you describe so well. Definately time for a rain dance!
ReplyDeleteThey say that in Texas today
ReplyDeletethis drought is worse than it was
during the Dustbowl of the 30's,
and in this dazzling sizzling piece
you have caught up to drought,
rode it like a verse vaquero,
and made it sit for your portrait.
Love the line: /all blistered day
air flaps in a shimmering sheet/.
A more than competent attempt at the villanelle form. Totally convincing. And is Oklahoma really so hot just now?
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, "the hammer of its heat" is simply brilliant.
ReplyDeleteA very clever villanelle. :)
ReplyDeletewowee, what an excellent write! your work is always amazing.
ReplyDeleteVERY GOOD. One of my favs of yours. Loved the rythm of it all, like it was living. WInd arranging dried flowers is an awesome visual. Great job.
ReplyDeleteOh I detest the heat and feel the pain in this poem; don't know how you stand it. Love the villanelle and your perfect rendition of the land as an anvil made for the sun to beat---Great!
ReplyDeleteThis is so good!
ReplyDeleteAnna :o]
Excellent read. The relentless harshness of heat can be vile.
ReplyDelete