Stories and poems

"The metaphoric image of 'orphan lines' is a contrivance of the detached onlooker to whom the verbal art of continuous correspondences remains aesthetically alien. Orphan lines in poetry of pervasive parallels are a contradiction in terms, since whatever the status of a line, all its structure and functions are indissolubly interlaced with the near and distant verbal environment, and the task of linguistic analysis is to disclose the levels of this coaction. When seen from the inside of the parallelistic system, the supposed orphanhood, like any other componential status, turns into a network of multifarious compelling affinities.'
Roman JAKOBSON, "Grammatical Parallelism and its Russian Facet", Language, 42/2, 1966, pp. 399-429, p. 428-429

Sunday, November 26, 2017

How Daphne Became a Tree


How Daphne Became a Tree

Running from the god of sun:
It must have been like
this grey light
of early spring,
a changing time
before the flow’s begun,
bitter ends that start, 
the tips of buds on branches,
but, batter back
my leafy bower
and savor February, March,
unsure,
not yet,
until the rain
to wash,
transforms again,
becomes.

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