Varieties of Light

It has been quite some time since Big Frank wrote any travesties. So here’s one new one. First a poem by Charles Simic called October Light. It’s one of those wistful poems of memory whispering to the poet of images and feelings past in time but present in all other ways.

October Light

That same light by which I saw her last
Made me close my eyes now in revery
Remembering how she sat in the garden

With a red shawl over her shoulders
And a small book in her lap,
Once in a long while looking up

With the day’s brightness on her face
As if to appraise something of utmost seriousness
She has just read at least twice,

With the sky clear and open to view,
Because the leaves had already fallen
And lay still around her two feet.

-- Charles Simic

And then Big Frank's travesty of Simic; one that leans on memory, but uses shadow rather than light, aside from the glint.




Shadow Pool

That shadow in which I sat
Took me back to her without the gloom,
Recalling how she sat across from me

With a smile upon her lips
And a gaze that journeyed far,
Over my shoulder and out of the room.

The smile with me and the eyes
Far gone by glint, but still
Engaged by dint of occasional flickers,

Echoing in the penetration of,
The dark pool of light in which
We bathed without a single ripple.

-- Big Frank Dickinson