Poetry Friday: Still Water by Patricia Fargnoli

Poetry Friday is hosted by A Year of Reading

Still Water by Patricia Fargnoli

“What times are these when a poem about trees is almost a crime because it contains silence against so many outrages.” – Brecht

And why not silence?
Ahead of me, Goose Pond parts pale water
and my canoe slides through into June sun, cathedral quiet,

          soft plums of cloud.

A thin gauze of rain stalls over Mt. Monadnock.

This is the way I drift

from each skirmish with the world
to the diplomacy of light
as it flares off the water,

      flickers among the flute-notes

of birds hidden in the leaning birches.

Would you condemn me?

I’ve already held the old bodies of grief
long past morning; leave them
to the ministrations

      of the dirt-borers

who work what is finished back into the earth.

Some atrocities are beyond redemption–

you know them already–
the world will be the world no matter.
I want the blinding silver of this small pond

          to stun my eyes,

the palaver of leaves to stop my ears.

Here at the farm, there is an abundance of “cathedral quiet”. The skirmishes of the world seem very far away, absorbed as I am with ministering to the four legged occupants of the farmhouse and barn. I am no longer on Twitter or Facebook, and I am ashamed to say this since I have always believed that staying current with the events of the world is a civic duty, but I no longer listen to or watch the news.

I hear the “palaver of leaves” and watch for the corn in the valley to grow. I sit with sheep and try to learn their sheepy ways. I chase around an irrepressible puppy and aim to master the commands that will make her the dog she is meant to be.

Disengaging from the world does not mean one can ever leave behind “old bodies of grief” (they have an insistent palaver of their own, after all). But even those are more bearable here in this space of beauty and peace.

5 thoughts on “Poetry Friday: Still Water by Patricia Fargnoli”

haitiruth says:

June 1, 2019 at 9:44 am

Ahhh. Lovely. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com

LikeLike

Tabatha says:

June 1, 2019 at 4:24 pm

Perfect, Tara. I understand the need to pull away. My son has a political job and he is invigorated by it, but it has worn me down.

LikeLike

Linda Mitchell says:

June 2, 2019 at 7:15 am

I’m ready to sign up for a writing retreat…what are your rates?
The farm sounds wonderful and healthy and moving headlong into summer. The poem is so relevant to today. And, if feels sort of religious in its way…a kind of “dust to dust” message. I love the line: “the diplomacy of light
as it flares off the water,” So beautiful. Say hello to the sheep. Enjoy today.

LikeLiked by 1 person

lindabaie says:

June 2, 2019 at 7:56 am

I’m glad that you are listening to that ‘palaver of leaves’ instead of the other! Keep on!

LikeLiked by 1 person

Michelle Kogan says:

June 5, 2019 at 1:35 am

love the humming bird–Sometimes I like shutting the din of the world out too…Nature is a wonderful refuge for this, she keeps me balanced.

LikeLike