Sunday, July 12, 2015

Backlight - A Magpie Tale


Image offered by Tess at The Mag. Click on the link to see how other people responded to this image of the backlit woman striding toward sunset. Sunrise? I chose sunset as fitting to the mood I was feeling looking at her. Her? Probably.

I am dedicating this poem to a good friend, Marie De Stefanis.

Backlight

I watched you stride tie
to tie, then crunch the gravel
as your mourning dress
wrapped your slenderness
in the sunset shimmering
in the yellow sky.

The tracks, going west,
were weedy and rusty brown,
the trains stopped long since.

I would have held you.
I wished to -knew I could not-
even from inside
I knew this too deep
to duck, my usual way
most times, most places.

What twisted me up
as you strode toward sunset,
you were still backlit
and I saw your shade
take your lead from you, reaching
its own way forward.

‎July ‎12, ‎2015 6:55 PM

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful Christopher. Thank you, I'm honored.

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  2. Wow - love this. There is a real sadness, a forlorn feeling that the picture exudes and that your words capture. A pleasure.

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  3. Eerie and fascinating - especially the shade taking the lead.

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  4. My question is, if the light source is in front, what is illuminating her back??

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  5. Very different approach to the take. Kidos

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  6. Your poem is beautiful, so lyrical it might be set to music ~~~

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  7. Marvelously perceptive, beautifully written.

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  8. beautiful and sweet words!

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  9. Love these sections:

    "as your mourning dress
    wrapped your slenderness
    in the sunset shimmering
    in the yellow sky"

    "you were still backlit
    and I saw your shade
    take your lead from you, reaching
    its own way forward"

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  10. The yearnings and the impossibilities beautifully spoken.

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  11. Evocative and deliciously bittersweet...

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The chicken crossed the road. That's poultry in motion.


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