The Personal Space of Norman Milliken « Poetry «
boys in trees in October
boys in trees in October
across sundowned and dappled
paradise
in breeze becoming
green gone gold,
along the threads
of waning light
from lawn to limb
they climb and cling
then reach again
with fingertips,
with sole to bole,
peel away the gravity
and bend in wind,
chest to tree,
the higher up
the harder held
then down they drift
through still and soft,
cramped
and mapled hands
brushed on grass
wet with first dew.
Aphasic on Apr. 14 2008 edit · delete I found this interesting for two reasons Norm.
First, the rhythm - it has a distinctly regular and, I assume, intentional cadence until the last stanza (which is also indented), that caught my attention, and made me want to re-read, to see if the conclusion would cast a different, or undiscovered perspective on the whole.
Second, the title - which in retrospect, had an effect on me. The stereotypical impression of 'boys in trees' is possibly one of 'action' - maybe something like 'boys will be boisterous', whereas this has an atmosphere redolent of sensitivity, the sensory experience, and in part it's almost sensual - well, to my ears anyway :>
U668857 on Apr. 14 2008 edit · delete Beautiful imagery and it has a lilting music due to the
alliteration and internal rhyme. I found myself replacing
"first" in the last line with "early" - I think because of
iambic consistency (but I can see the connection with Eden
and "first"). I like the constrained Romanticism in this
appealing lyric...BRgds.,Alan.
