Many Happy Returns
Look at the mountain.
Bend your eyes
at the knees, then insert
your gaze at the
base. It scrapes away all
at once, eyes plus
mind makes a good forklift.
For your birthday,
I will buy you a genuine
leather mountain-
carrying case, tooled with
your name, and
the date you wanted the land
so much you took
it with you. Sometimes,
the case is heavy,
the mountain wrapping its
arms around you,
pulling you home. Others,
you won’t even
remember you have it, what
is this, you will
wonder, the strap between
thumb and finger.
There's something different I like about this - kind of like Mohammed lugging a back-pack full of hubris and hope - plus its my brothers birthday today and it seems strangely appropriate - plus that is an incredible picture that suggests what the poem has the good sense not to.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely, Hannah. The heart-breaking absurdities of our efforts to care, and of our careless forgetting. I've been reading you for about a year now; your poems are a joy and inspiration (as in, something breathed deeply in). All best to you.
ReplyDeleteThe image created in those opening lines is astonishing. I like the tension in this poem, which says much by not saying it explicitly.
ReplyDeleteAudrey---HELLO! It is a delight to "meet" a dear reader. Do you have a blog? I'd love to read yours, if so. Thank you so much for your comment.
ReplyDeleteBill, happy birthday to your brother, and thank you!
Thanks, as always, Maureen.
Hannah, HELLO back! My daily poetry practice is just a couple months old; no current blog, though toying with the idea. Thanks for asking, and thanks (again, again) for your poems!
ReplyDeleteI love the forklift lines, and the mountain carrying-case...brilliant stuff. I often wonder how you come up with your ideas.
ReplyDelete