Tag arts

* rivering via bill knott

José Angel Araguz 2 Comments

This week’s poem is another Bill Knott gem.

What moves me most about it is how it stirs up from mere words a whole fabulistic world from a distance, and, by the end of the poem, brings the world closer to the reader, as close as the glass of water in hand that makes up the final image.

Seeing as the poem involves rivers meeting (and not meeting), this week’s image is of the confluence of the Rhone and Arve River in Geneva, Switzerland.

* the friday confluence *

* a friday confluence *

By the River BAAB – Bill Knott

We know that somewhere far north of here
the two rivers Ba and Ab converge to form
this greater stream that sustains us, uniting
the lifeblood length of our lands: and we believe
that the Ba’s sources is heaven, the Ab’s hell.

Daily expeditions embark upcountry to find
that fork, to learn where the merge first occurs.
Too far: none of our explorer’s return.  Or
else when they reach that point they themselves
are torn apart by a sudden urge to choose –

to resolutely take either the Ba/the Ab, to trace
good or evil to its spring.  Each flips a coin
perhaps, or favors whichever one the wind’s
blowing from at that moment.  Down here
even we who have not the heart to venture

anywhere that would force us to such deep
decisions, even we, when we hold that glass of
water in our hand, drink it slowly, deliberately,
as if we could taste the two strains, could somehow
distinguish their twin flow through our veins.

***

Happy veining!

Jose

* pennies counting with wolfgang wright

José Angel Araguz Leave a comment

Remember, words are the enemy of poetry.
– Russell Edson

Sometimes what’s being said has little to do with the words saying it.

This week’s piece – “Pennies” by Wolfgang Wright – is a flash fiction that develops its emotional pull subtly. The word “pennies” gathers weight throughout the short piece until it literally comes alive.

* it's all about the abrahams, baby *

* it’s all about the abrahams *

*Pennies – Wolfgang Wright

When the boy began collecting pennies in order to build a statue of his departed mother, Penny, his father did not object. When the father decided to join him, adding pennies from his collection, his friends implored him to see a psychiatrist. When the friends brought over glue to hold the statue together, they told their wives that they were going to watch the game. And when, together, they finished the statue and it came to life, sounding and behaving just like the mother, wife, and friend who was dead, they all knew that what they had done was good.

(* found in the Nostalgia issue of 5×5 – check out the rest of the issue here.)

***

Quick sidenote: Much of the fun I have writing this blog comes out of finding relevant images to juxtapose with the pieces. Here’s one I found fascinating and that kinda works as its own art piece. It’s a British coin from during the Suffragette movement era:

Happy pennying!

Jose