Daguerreotype
By Philip Sidney
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Daguerreotype.
An experiment from
50 years ago:
the image committed to memory
with mecurial words spoken aloud
to ensure a fix -
‘I shall remember this forever’
Red and orange sky,
a swing in the field
on an outward arc
holds one of the twins -
now sixteen years dead -
she bravely kicks baby legs
into the future.
A mother and father shape -
haloed in gold -
wades over the brow of a hill
through grass
and children.
The dark shadow
snakes behind them
war
hospital
disenfranchisement -
they tried to shake off
the horror
by moving as far from their beginnings
as they could
Funny -
what I saw then
were colours that meant
content,
over time the edges have tarnished
and the silver backed charm
has rubbed away
leaving
a smudge of red/gold,
the curve of a swing,
a snake
of history
cutting
through time.
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Comments
I love the way you take the
I love the way you take the swinging motion all the way through this
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Not only is this our
Not only is this our wonderful Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day, it's also our Poem of the Week - congratulations!
Get a great reading recommendation everyday - please share/retweet if you like it
Picture Credit:http://tinyurl.com/zqg9ldc
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Just sent me wikiing there,
Just sent me wikiing there, Philip. I love how you've incorporated the process in such a figurative way. Struggling to reach that point of consciousness where appreciation comes (Visiting. Least said, soonest mended) but that speaks volumes for your writing. Great pick. Wonderful metaphor.
Parson Thru
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Hi Helen
Hi Helen
This is a beautiful poem, and very poignant. I like the visual that you have chosen as well.
I was interested in the title. I first learned that word when we got the Diary of Charles Walker from 1851. He was hiring a friend to do a daguerrotype picture of him. I also have one in my collection of inherited bits from my husband's family.
Jean
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There is something undeniably
There is something undeniably powerful about our vulnerability in youth, the green pastures before life's knocks and traumas. The babe on the swing is unbearable. This is a picture of changing colours, so imaginatively drawn.
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Seashore has said it all for
Seashore has said it all for me.
Very visual and sad
Regards
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The baby, the swing....'she
The baby, the swing....'she bravely kicks baby legs into the future' so tragically touching. Made my heart tighten on reading. Powerful work PS.
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So much to appreciate here,
So much to appreciate here, really; the swing- visual skill, the clinical word choice in weaving the story amongst strong images that remain, and at its core a great heart. wonderful work, so many striking moments: 'haloed in gold', 'silver-backed charm', 'a smudge of red-gold' , 'mercurial words spoken aloud'
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