I agree with Arthur's 'couple of things' - this is a poem worth meditating
on. 

I wanted to add something about the 'blade's of grass- which for me evoked
something of the violence of life and contrast with the delicate threads
that bind us to those we love even when they are lost to us.

The fragility of human life and the powerfulness of human emotion is
something that is uppermost in my mind too, for various reasons. I just wish
I had your skill to express it. I suppose part of my avoidance of poetry
over the last months has been a wish not to have to.

Terri )O(



-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Arthur Seeley
Sent: 04 December 2004 15:20
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New sub: Almost Invisible


There are a couple of things I would like to say about this poem, Christina.
Firstly I admire the emtional integrity that you sustain without lapsing
into sentimentality. I could not do it or rather I could not trust myself to
attempt to come near to trying to do it. I do not know when the time is
right to write this sort of piece, Dylan did it with " Do not go
gladly....." , you have done it. I could not. Secondly the poetry is so
precise. the metaphor so wonderfully chosen.. I hear " father" two ways. One
as your name for him, now I am sure you have a pet name for him, something
less formal than father but you have chosen the formal appellation, which
first elevates him to his proper place but then, and second, I hear it as "
farther" and the opening line moves to a higher plane, almost a prayer-like
imploring, equivalent to " Do not go gladly....",of course then both things
are working together and this gives the line so much depth and pathos. " The
low light" is ominous and hints at close of day, year, life, a resolution
and then 'catching', with its line-break ( this to me is the point and
proper use of line-breaks), takes on its double meaning, meaning at once"
infectious", infecting you with despondency and gloom and then "
illuminating", lighting the way forward and back, the metaphor leads us to
the unbroken thread of our humanity, the father, himself begotten, begetting
the daughter and so on, unbroken. The metaphor closes on the blades of grass
back behind each other into the dimness of our origins. See, I have taken a
hundred words to unravel what you wove in twenty and that is the power and
wonder of poetry and to be admired. Thank you, Arthur.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Christina Fletcher" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 9:38 AM
Subject: New sub: Almost Invisible


>    Amost Invisible
>
>    Walk with me, father:
>    the low light is catching
>    miles of unbroken silk
>    spun from blade to blade of grass.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>    christina fletcher
>
>