[Patricia A. Marsh]

Originally posted by Mary Meriam:

Mary--

Lovely as these poems seem to be, well . . . [**sigh**]

I've read through the following poems a number of times and, sorry to say, I fail to understand what makes them "Wu Songs"--more than likely because I'm just learning about such things myself! However, if the only "rule" needed to write a Wu song is simply to write "Four lines, four beats per line."--as you indicate at the top of this thread--I'm wondering how you're counting those beats. I mean: Would it be too much to ask that you show how you'd scan these poems?

All best--
Patricia


Shake trees! Shake it all down!
I’m hungry for kiwi, mandarin orange,
apple red, the warm blushing mango,
the shade of the trembling cherry grove.

~~~

Before dawn, I dig for potatoes
in the soaked dirt, heavy hay,
and thick dark air. Last night,
I found a pearl in the mussel in my mouth.

~~~

You're as distant as Andromeda,
a galaxy smudged in the October sky.
I make that bed with clean sheets
where we rolled, charged, so many times.

~~~

The old photograph is missing
but you find the losing lottery tickets.
People you love die, and your memory
fades and fails, fallen petals.

~~~

The moon is almost full, as if la lune
is a new event created just for me and you -
though I can’t see her, not even from my window -
too many gauzy clouds in the way.