Animal
Spirits
Oct 25 2014
A clear astringent wind
barrelled-in from the west.
Pent-up energy, released
A clear astringent wind
barrelled-in from the west.
Pent-up energy, released
like a wild stallion in
heat,
kicking down the fence
in a furious break
kicking down the fence
in a furious break
for freedom.
Flushing out
the muzzy warmth
that had crept up from somewhere south
and settled-in,
days of torpid air
in an unseasonable fall.
Sturdy trees bent, the frail snapped.
Dry leaves swept downwind
circling like water-spouts,
until they came to rest
in the lee of the fence,
pockets
that had crept up from somewhere south
and settled-in,
days of torpid air
in an unseasonable fall.
Sturdy trees bent, the frail snapped.
Dry leaves swept downwind
circling like water-spouts,
until they came to rest
in the lee of the fence,
pockets
of wind shadow.
It blew the sky clear,
an eye-popping blue
It blew the sky clear,
an eye-popping blue
cottoned with clouds.
The air was brisk, but sun-warmed
The air was brisk, but sun-warmed
and I took slow deep
breaths,
like a lifer
released from solitary.
A high pressure system
is like beginning fresh.
I throw the windows wide
and let it cleanse;
wind-whipped curtains, billowing out,
the house
wind-whipped curtains, billowing out,
the house
purified by light.
Animal spirits are high
the old
newly young.
As once, I was able to run,
through unresisting air
the crunch
of skirling leaves.
Down a forest path
with the wind at my back
urging me on.
Several years ago I wrote a poem about a similar weather system. I think it ended with the mildly amusing phrase "idling somewhere out overSaskatchewan ":
anything with "Saskatchewan ",
after all, is bound to amuse!
Anyway, the last thing I wanted to write was another "weather" poem. But it was hard to resist today, with this powerful wind, and this welcome freshening that makes the world seem remade.
I probably dropped the ball on the animal metaphor. The title, and then the stallion analogy in the opening stanza, could have be followed up a lot more decisively; but except for fog "creeping", there isn't much. And water-spouts certainly don't fit! (Although in my defence, I did try a dog-chasing-its-tail, but couldn't make it work.) At least the last stanza, with its "running" and "animal spirits", calls back to that spirited stallion, and helps pull the poem tight.
I think the main feeling I had -- and was trying to express -- is in a single word in the second last stanza: "purification" is pretty much the nub of the thing; all the rest is mere ornament!
Is this the second poem in a row I've used "muzzy"? One of those useful words whose sound seem to express its meaning: you don't have to know what it means to know what is meant.
Down a forest path
with the wind at my back
urging me on.
Several years ago I wrote a poem about a similar weather system. I think it ended with the mildly amusing phrase "idling somewhere out over
Anyway, the last thing I wanted to write was another "weather" poem. But it was hard to resist today, with this powerful wind, and this welcome freshening that makes the world seem remade.
I probably dropped the ball on the animal metaphor. The title, and then the stallion analogy in the opening stanza, could have be followed up a lot more decisively; but except for fog "creeping", there isn't much. And water-spouts certainly don't fit! (Although in my defence, I did try a dog-chasing-its-tail, but couldn't make it work.) At least the last stanza, with its "running" and "animal spirits", calls back to that spirited stallion, and helps pull the poem tight.
I think the main feeling I had -- and was trying to express -- is in a single word in the second last stanza: "purification" is pretty much the nub of the thing; all the rest is mere ornament!
Is this the second poem in a row I've used "muzzy"? One of those useful words whose sound seem to express its meaning: you don't have to know what it means to know what is meant.
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