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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

In the Absence

In the Absence

The bee and flower collaborate,
and in their work, they vanish.

The more I focus on the honey
that has dissolved in my mint tea,

the less of me there is, and only
the taste. Look at this lake!

I shout to you, on the shore,
and to help you see it better,

I hold my breath, and duck
under the water, stay submerged

while you look. This image
I give to you is good practice

for the time I won’t spend on
Earth. The eye of the beholder

buzzes and hovers, buzzes
and hovers, then vanishes.

5 comments

  1. I really like the circular quality of this poem. Beautiful (as always, and again).

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  2. Yikes...this is incredible...there is freedom in losing self, isn't there? This one too will get pasted on my wall. Wishing you a lovely Wednesday Hannah!

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  3. I like the way both are called out: the transparent eyeball and the need to find oneself in others. That's poetry.

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  4. Isn't she on shore in the first three couplets or more? And then in the lake? The disappearing images, esp. the comparison to a bee's movements, are terrific. And terrifying. Out of nowhere "the time I won't spend on/Earth"--daring, but I love it. That was one provocative bee--which reminds me, I also admire the way the poem is about both love's transience AND work, losing oneself in it.

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