I've been thinking about this poem again recently. It's one of my favorites I've ever read on substack. The co-inherence of image and meaning in this is sublime. The honey locust and her skirt of thorns is a resplendent image. Beauty and danger, and a response and hedging against being disentangled like the fox. Resisting disentanglement by way of entanglement. The ubiquitous and thoroughly violent metaphors exactly communicate the solidity of churning feeling. Something placid though also bewitched with enticing unease. The poem, the nuptials on the marriage bed of disentanglement, re-entangles with the beauty of the rose to protect, once again, from the disentanglement of Death.
A poignant picture of this world that groans for new creation.
This is a really good one.
The imagery is as immediate as the theme. There are some memorable lines in there as well.
'her gnarled nose/turns only for her roses' :D
Magnificent, Sam. I'm reminded of a young Ted Hughes.
I've been thinking about this poem again recently. It's one of my favorites I've ever read on substack. The co-inherence of image and meaning in this is sublime. The honey locust and her skirt of thorns is a resplendent image. Beauty and danger, and a response and hedging against being disentangled like the fox. Resisting disentanglement by way of entanglement. The ubiquitous and thoroughly violent metaphors exactly communicate the solidity of churning feeling. Something placid though also bewitched with enticing unease. The poem, the nuptials on the marriage bed of disentanglement, re-entangles with the beauty of the rose to protect, once again, from the disentanglement of Death.