An Old Fragment of Poetry

Passing through with triple the points for you!

James:

Its youth seeking tomorrow, something new to congratulate yourself on being young and wanting what was elsewhere. Perhaps teenage angst?

Given your preface, I think it was a prophetic poem about this new move and time in your life. Are you moving west, east, north or south?

I really liked this James as it does leave one contemplating.

Without knowing how you felt at the time, this poem is hard to read. It sounds like you are going deep inside yourself, though. I think of "the world elsewhere" as someplace inside of your mind.

thanks

Thank you all for reading. As poetry, this one's more than a little precious; I don't think I'd write, "silent, silent things" today unless the poem really called for that repetition. :)

I'm moving west, Janet, from Philadelphia to Chicago.

It's always interesting to find those older snippets of yourself.

And good luck with the move! I used to end up in Philly a lot for metal shows. Can't say I've ever been to Chicago, though...

The key adjective upon which turns the poem is of course ´ghastly´, because it creates a mystery about the speaker. ¨Silent, silent things¨is a marvelous expansion of the natural perception of a grove as phenomena, but ¨ghastly sort of background¨ speaks to the lack of reality found in this nature, the breaking of the Rousseauian dream, the longing for ¨the world elsewhere.¨ What is wanted by the poet dreamer who senses the world and goes beyond this ¨quiet of my life¨in his mapping of desire? A loud, urban circus, Berlin Alexanderplatz or downtown LA of Strange Days--is that what is required? Or is it the Void itself, is this poem a plea for the imagination to surpass the seemingly dreadful and dull replication of life as qualia--all secondary qualities and the soughing of branches--and somehow think of nothing itself as a feat of awareness?

A truly fascinating fragment. I have always admired your poetic sensibility immensely, James, even in the smallest of doses.