[Maryann Corbett]

DEAR PEOPLE: PLEASE NOTE that this poem is from LAST YEAR'S Deck the Halls, the 2009 event even though we weren't able to hold it until early 2010. Make sure you don't confuse it with THIS YEAR'S competition! Thanks. Maryann.


Ending in Cape May

For my Aunt Ches at 98


You linger through a summer fraught with squalls,
a tough recession and tomato blight.
"It takes its time," you sigh. "It drags, it crawls."
You cry to have it over with at night

and deal your Mass card solitaire in dust--
a run of hearts, a club, the Savior's face.
You play a closing hand of gold on rust,
a color scheme that seems to swim in place.

I drive to Exit 0 in the rain
past stunted pines, a vagary of plate
tectonics. How this prehistoric strain
of evergreens defines the Garden State

and brines the heavy air of afternoon!
I feel the electricity in clouds
that build like weekend traffic, knowing soon
another microburst will tear like crowds

across a sunny beach on Saturday.
We've had so few this year. The businesses
along the Jersey shore are blown away.

[Jennifer Reeser]

Super title. I'd like to read a subtle play on "May" there -- "may" also signifying the possible, but unknown. Your detail (deal your Mass card solitaire, etc.) adds so much, in my reading, to texture and import, depth. All the alliteration of S2 I think is splendid, and what beautiful symbolism there -- the gold (value, worth, meaning) with rust (tarnish, decay). So much so, the insertion of the plate tectonics is something of a letdown, a red herring, if you will, coming across as arbitrary.

The exclamation of S4 is a welcome diversion from all the direct "I's" and "you's." I loved the simile of weekend traffic, along with your great "cr" sounds, following. Nice launch of the image with sound.

For me, this one ends in an irresistible negative capability.

[Tim Murphy]

I don't know this poem, and like Jennifer, I like it bunches.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Oh, yes, I remember this one. Fine work.

[Petra Norr]

Yes, very, very fine. Another poem that I admire. The poem opens well, but it's the second stanza that really stands out. I didn't snap up the meaning of Mass right away, so I was startled and delighted when the "Savior's face" appeared after the hearts and club. The last two lines of that stanza are very good, too. In S3, I'm bowled away by how confidently the poet leaves the aunt behind and takes to the road without for that matter totally losing the thread -- but of course, the stuff of the rest of the poem does tie in with the first stanza; and to me anyway, the last line of the poem conveys what isn't said outright -- the loss implied by "blown away" can just as well refer to the aunt as to the businesses, so I sense double emotion & poignancy there.

[Martin Elster]

The main thing I remember about the thread to this poem was that some people wanted "Exit 0" to be spelled out as "Exit Zero" and some didn't. I'm glad the "0" stayed!

Beautiful poem.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Along with 'Disenchantment Bay' also featured here, this is one of the Sphere's finest, I think.

I agree totally with Petra that what blows the reader away in this poem is how it conveys the unsaid. The thing is not said, but nothing remains unsaid. And so much more than the unsaid thing is encompassed. The poem seems to let the whole world in. I think this aspect of the poem is magic - it takes my breath away each time I read it.

The last two lines of S2 are simply beautiful, too.

I could meditate inside this poem, small and expansive at the same time. Local and universal.

Love it.

Cally

[Philip Quinlan]

2 stanzas too long but a nice treatment of the subject.

[W.F. Lantry]

I do remember this one. I love the way the various strands are interwoven.

Thanks,

Bill

[Michael Cantor]

I don't remember seeing this, but am certain I know who wrote it (that Springsteen is incredible - to think he'd even have time for us!), and it's a great blend of grittiness and elegance, and a unique voice.