Hi Sue,
Very Emily-ish! (Dickenson, I mean). (And I mean it as a canny compliment
too!).
I'm a bit unsure about the second stanza... it's first two lines seem always
to surprise me (why is this being said? I ask myself!) and I struggle to
explain to myself what it means... The phrase "We know a doom..." also makes
me want to change it to "We know OF doom..."
I also take the last couplet of the first stanza, to paraphrase, to point to
meanings where "the lineage" alludes to the long-line-length of the trunk or
stem of a tree (as well as other things, like how long it takes to grow
etc.) and the "serpent" is a visual link to a long branch.
I'm also caught by the rhythm, the sound, of the whole poem. And the title!
I love the title!
>From: Sue Scalf <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: new: The History of a Yellow Leaf
>Date: Tue, 6 May 2003 08:51:03 EDT
>
>The History of a Yellow Leaf
>
>
>The history of a yellow leaf
>is part of me. There are things
>we do not need to learn:
>the lineage of a maple tree,
>the serpent's pedigree.
>
>The genealogy of grief
>requires no heraldry.
>We know a doom
>when streaks at dawn forecast
>impending storm, know in the bone,
>the red of alarm.
>
>Some things cannot be taught--
>the faithless lover's kiss that lingers long,
>a honey on the tongue when winter comes.
>In stinging memory, we taste the summer
>when bees are gone.
>
>Sue Scalf
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