These two poetic reflections are unrelated, beyond their focus on silence. The first reflection here considers what it is to fall into the deepening silence of old age. The second reflection looks at the silence that causes, and also results from repression…
•
shrouded by evening in waning october
as autumn tumbles towards winter
is to know the losing of the light
the ever growing darkness
the advance of the cold
the time of endings
death’s due vigil
deep silence
how do I abide this season
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
•
escape was an improbability
as was understanding
opinions regarding outcome
ignored altogether
fate sealed with no discourse
executed with an air of entitlement
when one has no arms to flail
no fists to clench
no fingers to point
gestures of dissent are sorely limited
rights easily wrest away
freedom falls beyond grasp
inevitable
when one has no voice
• • •
rob kistner © 2011
• linked at Magpie Tales
Heartbreaking, Rob. Beautifully put.
I did think, “Oh, those poor ducks,” but then something else sprang to mind and I had to go with it.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Powerful write, Rob…excellent…
Deep, powerful words. Excellent.
I have trouble with my food looking too much like the animal. I also too easily feel like I can go inside them and sense the protest the prey species may make in the last moments before they are taken.
Finally, the fate of the Pekin Duck is sealed at birth and the duck has only a month and a half of free range before another month of force feeding and complete incarceration before slaughter.
We are a cruel species.
Your poem speaks to so much more than the image, though it addresses that astonishingly well.
Powerful words about powerlessness. Also, very nice interview you gave for PU. Cheers.
Your poem is directly relative to
the image prompt, powerfully so;
but there is wiggle room, as it
works as allegory for those who
cannot speak for themselves;
crack babies, middle eastern
women in burkas, the grievously
disabled, and the domestic meat
we raise for protein, every duck,
calf, and bunny of them.
Rob- I’m on the verge of becoming vegetarian now. Very powerful and persuasive!
Wow!! Wonderful write and yikes.. makes me want to be a vegetarion 🙂
This poem was written for every repressed, abused, victimized, and persecuted being on the planet — regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, or species
thank you Maureen… 🙂
a amazing way to put what i was feeling when i saw the prompt picture..like a lot of people i don’t like the food to look like the beast which is totally wrong of me i know..your piece was very powerful. thank you !
A sense of helplessness, beautifully written.
Inevitable when one has no voice ~ powerful words.
Love how you go beyond the duck motif into universal sufferage and animal rights. The image does seem very distasteful on a visceral level, but we eat anything when starved I suppose. Really? Would we? That’s why I cannot believe ppl would resort to eating human flesh (the Donner party, Lord of the Flies, etc) Isn’t our moral ground larger than the visceral form we inhabit?
very nice…and one will have no voice when they fail to use it at the appropriate time…a fresh take on the prompt good sir…i enjoyed it….telling of the times..
Words of wisdom, Rob, speaking up for the voiceless.
What a scaldingly real poem!
The form of the poem “Endings” pulls us down into that dark place but then the question opens the words, and feeling, out again.
Your finish is amazing! A wonderful tribute to all lost souls…and perhaps a beacon for them to find their way to a community that cares. Power to the Poets, Rob…and you are indeed one.
The shrinking structure of the first reflection was very poignant.
A strong and moving poem.
And we also enslave ourselves…chosing freely to do so. I wonder if the Occupy Wall Streeters have considered that at all?
Good poems.
sad when we lose our voice for whatever reason…fall silent because of the pressure from outside or because of pressure from within …time for us poets to break free…fine write rob
Both are so powerful. I love the first one. The form and the content and even the words as I read them. October , the silent month, sadness permeates but also the joy of my thoughts of this beautiful month. Well crafted!
Very strong writes, both are so hard hitting and powerful and really reinforce the other. Hard when some lose their voice in the confusion.
did you add that opening poem after i read? how do i abide in this season is an interesting question…one that brings rememberance ofdeath…1
The thoughts time will draw from us…beautifully rendered here, I must say. If wisdom comes with years, you display the wisdom and skill of the ages here; strong content fitted to an appropriately smooth form; the silence seems appropriate for this time of year…
Ah! The joys of frozen food! Just kidding!
But I am a flesheater myself, having been born with canine teeth. But the picture with “Silenced” made me very sympathetic to the plight of the workers on the slaughterhouse line. I have visited such a place that slaughters hogs, and the floor was slippery with blood and the carcasses had to be rapidly eviscerated and scraped clean — singed, even, in the case of hogs. I won’t want their jobs, trying to keep up with that line and wielding hooks and knives. But I happily ate a sausage afterward!
The first rose out of the second,
like an ash bird from the flame,
yet it resonates more personally;
for many of us are seeing our
fathers, our grandfathers, in the
mirror, and the body has a 200,000
miles on it, and the warranties are
no longer valid. We just have to
ride it out, Rob, kicking and screaming
full throttle for that last mile.
beautiful discussions on losing voices,
one way or another, we can always find ways to speak.
These are each exquisite, meditative, a purity in them, even the purity of the dark and the light life is, burning down. I’ve been unavoidably dealing with the same things in my meditative poems inspired by lines from Rilke. Very beautiful, Rob. xxxj
“Endings.” “Death’s due vigil. deep silence…” Exactly my image of winter. Very well imaged for such a bleak description…… hard to pull that off….. The question was how do we abide it? I do it with a snbow shovel, and I freaking hate it!
“Silenced.” I’m sure the 99% would agree…
Rob this is very heart breaking and so wonderful done you have out done yourself once again so enjoyed this
http://gatelesspassage.com/2011/10/18/farewell-my-three-legged-friend/
I’ve felt the winter chill in the evenings too… reminds me every time I step outside of the house that winter is almost upon us again.
Cheers,
Arnab Majumdar on SribbleFest.com
Good use of the prompt as a metaphor.