The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 3/25/08

[BlueIris]

"Two Couples"

The mother throws her voice in loops,
up high, above the baby's head,
now brings it down, it swoops and swoops;
she scoops him up and off to bed,
now comes back, flushed, famished, sits,
now bites into the buttered pulp
of an artichoke, a heap of sweets
circling while she and her husband talk
about how the baby's changed their days,
how long they waited. They understand
the other woman who waits and waits.
Last week she had her ovaries scanned.
Who knows what's next? The baby's voice—
The father jumps for the bottle.
The other couple, nibbling, moist,
glazed bits of apple-babka,
fix their coffee, watching them—
father humming while baby drinks.
She dumps a storm of sugar in,
stirring slowly, trying to think

that life is full, baby or not.
But summer's going, cicadas beat
their crazy song, their timbals taught.
Apples fatten in heat, in heat.
She knows they do. They deepen, drop,
sap-side smack, release their spice.
The nipple slips, the bottle plops
and rolls away, the baby cries.
He's stretched high on his father's thighs,
now dumples down again, now lies,
head hung back on his mother's knees;
looking around and around, he sees
the other couple upside-down.

—Debra Bruce

[BlueIris]

1. Kick.

[ThomCat]

2. I feel bad for people who can't have children

but I wonder about people who feel a desperate need to have a child to somehow complete their life. :(

This is a beautiful, and fairly delicate poem about it. :)

[BlueIris]

3. I feel the same. And as soon as I get some money,

I'm sending it to you so you can take a poetry seminar (at NYU, perhaps? Columbia?). A little angel sheds a tear for every day that ThomCat is not in a poetry seminar.

[ThomCat]

4. Only if you come out here and visit afterwards

so I can take you out to one of the really good restaurants and show off my new mad poetry critiquing skilz. :)

[BlueIris]

6. Okay, well, whatever keeps the angels from weeping.

:-)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. My dear BlueIris...

How nice...

I like this one!

I'm not even sure just why...

But I do!

Thank you... :hug:

[BlueIris]

7. It's formal verse. I haven't posted a lot of that, but I do think it has its charms.

This was written in iambic tetrameter ababcdcd, which changes to aabbc to close the poem. Tough to do and still keep the poem appealing.