Burial
By Caldwell
- 345 reads
The spade slips in, sharp as flint,
into the black-tide earth, where bramble-thorn
grips the muck's throat, tangles and drags.
Sun's caught in curdled clouds,
held like a breath, a prisoner in the hollow,
bleak as an oyster’s bone-bleached lip.
The hill’s black ridge curves—crowscratch,
hard-inked across the sky’s pale bile sheen.
Closer, the ground stirs, a rough scrape of briar,
paths clawed by fox, nettle-choked, unforgiven.
The cold sweat of mist licks the gorse’s wretched hide
and the land, a restive sleeper, shifts and heaves.
Here, in the duskfall’s bruise, the dark
spills over the edge of the light, and night
creeps up through the tangled ruts, thick
as peat-smoke, deepening.
=====
I re-read some "Under Milk Wood" and a bit of Seamus Heaney's "Death of a Naturalist", after being enthused by the wonderful poetry of Queen Beatle.
I had also seen some magical paintings by an artist I admire on Instagram called Rachel Mia Allen which tied in perfectly with that evocation of an almost silhouetted landscape at dusk, perhaps near the sea, with suggestions of weathered and worn wood and wild barbed bramble that sits threatening in its own darkness.
- Log in to post comments
Comments
that is wonderful - thank you
that is wonderful - thank you
- Log in to post comments
There was a talkshow
There was a talk show this morning on the radio about mother in law's the one woman told she loved her ' in law she even helped burying her.
- Log in to post comments
I was thinking Heaney from
I was thinking Heaney from the first couple of lines. You've got it there. Really sharp use of language and imagery. Great.
- Log in to post comments
Brilliant, beautiful,
Brilliant, beautiful, evocative. It's our Pick of the Day. Do share on social media. Have added Caspar David Friedrich's Owl at Grave as, sadly, not able to add the artist's work that you mentioned as I don't have permission, but hope it's suitable.
- Log in to post comments
Very well deserved -
Very well deserved - congratulations!
- Log in to post comments
Enveloping
... in atmosphere, reader drawn in to the landscape to experience the moment.
"The hill’s black ridge curves—crowscratch,
hard-inked across the sky’s pale bile sheen."
With the close eye of an artist, you write.
Best
L
- Log in to post comments
This is our Poem of the Week
This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!
- Log in to post comments
Lovely read
Really enjoyed this poem. It just kept giving. I particularly liked 'the duskfall's bruise' and the 'curdled clouds'. Well done!
- Log in to post comments