The Loneliness of a Cicada

Cherry

By onemorething

Sat, 13 Jun 2020
  • 2936 reads
11 comments
 

My voice might put out the sun;

cicadas find their own words at dusk too,

in harsh hisses

for a common understanding.

Maybe they sing to be seen,

having been lonely

in the becoming of themselves - 

a childhood in the dark.

A solitary nymph is lost

to ligneous dreams, the blood

of the xylem that made them

flows its transformation onwards

in hoarse pulses of fear and wonder,

fattens them on the poetry of trees.

Perhaps we all cast off our histories,

a little in love with our new sap-born wings,

we harden into our songs

and weaken the branches that bear us,

that we must return to. 
 

Picture is in the public domain. Also image on twitter from here: 

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Omoda_Seiju_-_Cicada_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

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Comments

Submitted by Ed Crane on

Clever the way you have paralled our lives with that of cicadas, luckily we don't have to spend 17 years underground like some of them do, but as you say, in a way we do bury ourselves in our lives and work for years and sometimes things happen that make us cast off our history for a new birth.

I read this a couple of times before I saw the way this is structured, but it flows well as you describe the insects' life. 

One small point (I hope you don't mind), but in line 12 I'm not sure you need 'that' perhaps if you wanted a particular number of syllables you could replace flow with flowing, although just removing that reads good to me.

Very nice and well thought out poem, Rachel

Thank you

Ed C

 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Ed. Glad you liked it. Haven't written much other than disconnected parts of things for a couple of weeks so it felt nice to finish something. Yes, I take your point about the extra 'that'. Thanks for reading it. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks to whoever dispensed the cherries. :)

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

It's good to read your poetry again Rachel. I like your idea of the the resemblence between the cicada wanting to celebrate it's new freedom of years in the dark and perhaps we as humans breaking away the shackles of what was and wanting to share it, as with poetry.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Jenny. Yes, as Ed said, they are interesting critters, and I like the sound of them too, at a distance. Am happy you liked it. Thanks for your thoughts on it. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by sean mcnulty on

You've such a knack for picking the perfect nature subjects, Rachel.  Love it.

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Thanks Sean, that's very kind. Or happy accidents, I'll take them when they wander in. Glad you liked it. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by celticman on

your fair drumming up support. #me too, but some might by a bit iffy with the locust movement. 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Ha. Thanks for reading. And yes, well, locusts, that's an entirely different kettle of locusts. Rachel :)

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

I am slowly getting an education by reading your poems Rachel.  They are so fascinating that I feel duty bound to find more information about the subject. Today I have come across the noun 'cicada' twice first here and then from a prose poem by little ditty. So it was imperative that I genned up on this insect. I always thought that their stridulation was simply a mating call; you must forgive me for having a one-track mind. Now I can appreciate the deeper meaning of their behaviour and revaluate my basic assumptions. Did I tell that I enjoyed your poem? Indeed I do.

Luigi x

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Ah well, I just read your poem and had to look up 'pilose' so I suppose we are all getting an education one way or another. And ha, yes, I think your one-tracked mind here is perfectly reasonable, it is largely a mating call really, the stridulating, I was stretching it to connection with another for my own romantic ideas, I suppose. And I guess, imposing my own feelings that they must be in need of meeting another cicada after being alone for so long. Interestingly enough (well interesting to me anyway...) I was reading about Nautiluses this morning and the concept of 'umwelt' was discussed in relation to them because, I suppose, as with most cephalopods, their experience of existence and their environment is hard to conceive. Made me think about how I perceive things, superimposing my own feelings onto things, as I regularly do. Anyway, I'll stop rambling. Thanks for reading it and glad you liked it. Rachel x