A Twitter of Harps

By camilla

Sat, 10 Nov 2007
  • 1274 reads
2 comments
 

A Twitter of Harps

Birds harpsinging can't call him
all their notes are airborn trills to vacant sunlight
he has been taken to the chill
of ocean deeps
by our Nannie with her cutty sark

If Cerridwen permits
I'll dress in a sealskin
borrow their eyes and bullfrog lungs
pull him from the sandy floor
where he hangs,pressed
by seven atmospheres
and stygian dark
twirled in a waterspout of weed
tumbled in whalesong

I'll drag the princeling
up up
stillborn blue
breathe in life
make the sea cough him up
flailing but alive

Certificate U
Poem
Cave of the Storm Nymphs
Love

Comments

Submitted by anipani on
anipanin says i don't know why but i loved this poem, i loved the words, and the images, i don't normally have a visual imagination, when i read, butthis is so evocative visually. i loved the 'bird harpsinging'. i don't know the story behind this, but the poem itself lives. brilliant

anipani

Submitted by camilla on
Thank you aren't you kind.I expect it is a bit muddled.I was looking for a Celtic myth.Cerridwen was one of the names of "the goddess".Nannie is the witch in Burns Tam o Shanter.He sees her dancing in her cutty sark (short shirt) and is then chased for his impudence.There must be a story apart from the little mermaid where a heroine rescues a drowning man.I would like to rescue a very dear friend from the deep depression he is crushed by.It is wishful thinking.