Knotwork
When the fever comes I always think
in strands and balls of ifs and whens
rolling, biting, weaving, choking;
I cut through them with a whimpered cry.
They're ligaments that severed, pain
and cripple, yet born of fever so are born to die.
Still love runs bright, there in the maze before me
self-contained and whole as wild things are
desired more than breath until she’s caught
to burn the lungs with all her embered stars;
but in this dream we’re infinitely more
than we could be in sanity before.
Dry as thirst’s bones, braiding sheets to chaos,
I speak sweet life all night in liquid tongues
dancing the map of flesh that only mimics
our minds’ soft burnished labyrinths unrolled,
roads and ways in rubric, ever knotted
bound inward in a winding beaten gold.
As journey’s end returns to sunset fire
so waves of dreams break on the beach we are.
There are ligaments that severed, pain
and cripple, born of fever, born to die
and some that twine forever and remain
the knots of lovers, twined as lovers lie.
January 2012
Header Image: detail of the Uppland Runestone (#U871) dating to the 12th century, originally located in Ölsta, a village in the county of Uppland in Sweden. Full image below.
By Mceder (Photo by Mceder at Skansen May 2005.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
By Mceder (Photo by Mceder at Skansen May 2005.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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| The entire runestone. |
Bravo! Leaves me speechless in awe. I am knotted.
ReplyDeleteThe header image and your peace image entwine.
Thanks Tug--oh no--knot that! (sorry) yes I just noticed that--maybe that's where the dream image came from(much more likely, I think.) Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeletenice double edge to that last line hedge...i find the knots fascinating..and it does look a lot like the tat on the sidebar....the third and fourth stanza just rip....
ReplyDeletehappy birthday to you
ReplyDeletehappy birthday to you
happy birthday dear hedge..(dramatic pause..)
happy birthday to you
smiles...be back to read the poem later...just thought i'd sneak in to say hello...smiles
Surely there's harm and bourne and in the knottings, and the transformation of a devouring fever into the knotted dragon whose hot breath cures like of fever's burn is beautifully inlaid here. The dream-charm is so perfect here:
ReplyDeleteI speak sweet life all night in liquid tongues
dancing the map of flesh that only mimics
our minds’ soft burnished labyrinths unrolled,
I dunno why my migraines kick off the most creative gallops, but they do ... Hope you're feeling better today. - Brendan
p.s. Did you see "The Secret of Kells?" The "secret" in that animated fantasia (beautiful) is that scrollwork was enabled by a sort of crystal pulled from the eye-socket of a dark pagan stone god, as if to see with the eye of the dragon was to build a safe house for its primal energy. Surely the harmonium of dream remits a similar, tense wild knotting ... makes for a fantastic poem, too.
WOW.... I love how this poem flows... it is awesome .... "When the fever comes I always think
ReplyDeletein strands and balls of ifs and whens
rolling, biting, weaving, choking..."
Love this whole piece :)
Spent a long minute gaping at your header image and the peace sign, wondering whether they were the same... This is just beautiful, rolling and knotting and passing through itself just like the rune image...just like a dream. Masterful. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks brian. Glad you liked.
ReplyDelete@Claudia: See how you are, sneaking up on me...it's my husband's birthday, too, so we had a nice brunch out, then went grocery shopping. The party never ends around here. ;_) But at least I've stopped being sick. Thanks so much for stopping by.
@ds, bajanpoet--thanks for the enthusiasm, the understanding and appreciation, and for coming by to read a poem that isn't hooked to a prompt.
@B: Thanks as always, for reading and getting it. No, I haven't seen the movie, which sounds cool( we dropped our netflix when we got the new dish tv set-up with a gazillion channels for spouse) but I did read about it, and see some of the amazing and interesting illuminated pages from it while reading up for this poem. It truly is a jaw dropping work of art.Thanks for the story--I like the concept of the pagan dragon eye looking out of that mystical proto-christian construct.
Happy boithday to you & Greybeard! Great that you can team up when blowing out the candles. - B
ReplyDeleteThanks, B. Mostly we team up on ignoring it. Birthday denial keeps you young, at least in your own fantasy world. ;_)
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, dear BFF of mine, and to your fine feathered GB as well.
ReplyDeletecool poem. best i like: i speak sweet life all night and beaten gold. happy birthday to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteoh happy birthday! as someone noted above - this piece has a wicked rhythm and flow - it's very melodic and the lines have mostly the same syllable count, and now I wonder if that was deliberate... hmm if not serious kudos and mental rhythm ha - either way - loved the piece - "to burn the lungs with all her embered stars;
ReplyDeletebut in this dream we’re infinitely more
than we could be in sanity before." - imagery strong as ever - makes for great reading! cheers!
Happy Birthday, hedgewitch! I hope you are feeling 100 percent better, but if this is the type of stellar writing that your fevers induce, perhaps you shouldn't rush the recovery process ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the kind words on the poem, and the birthday wishes. Appreciate it much.
ReplyDelete@Talon: I have two more, but not sure if they aren't a bit *too* fevered. ;_)
My favorite lines:
ReplyDeleteself-contained and whole as wild things are
Dry as thirst’s bones, braiding sheets to chaos,
so waves of dreams break on the beach we are.
and some that twine forever and remain
the knots of lovers, twined as lovers lie.
So evocative and memorable. The last line so interesting too as it has the whisper of ambiguity--the knots of lovers, twined as lovers lie--I think of the physical positions of course--but also the conflicts and possible untruths--a line with so many echoes. K.