Ryf,

I'm glad you like this poem. I felt a bit uneasy about subbing it because
the connection between senescence in nature and the senescence of people has
become rather hackneyed. At that time, I had a great deal of contact with
people in an advanced state of senility ( the levelling effect of senility
very evident) and in between criss-crossed an autumn landscape. The two
forms of senescence became fused, but once I got down to write a poem there
were few points of contact between leaves and people. One of those many
situations when an idea works out in life, but not on paper. Looking back, I
could have written a gritty poem about old people slipping on their own
substances and getting massive head injuries on the way down, but assumed
that the reader knows all that, that old people often have a hard time. The
irony may be that they know the commonalities of senescence better.

Colin


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ryfkah *" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2003 9:01 PM
Subject: Re: newsub/leaves


In a message dated 04.16.03 10:02:16 AM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Trees wore leaves summer long,

locked in the language of birch or sycamore,

sounding the blue with their own song.

 >>

This opening stanza could be a poem onto itself.

I also like this stanza – very visual:

Leaves on the ground are fire

trying to recall the light,

return to innocence remembered hours.

I love nature in poetry and you write it in a fresh way.

kol tuv, Ryfkah