Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Simone Weil 17



A lever. We lower when we want to lift. She grieves on social media, posting photos we may or may not see. To see is to stop. Droplets of water hang from a brown railing. I use the phrase “corrugated tin” as much as I can, my friend says, because I love the sound of it so much. Rain on a tin roof turns light into sound. The man who died sits behind drums we cannot hear. We keep memories more as image than as sound; there is no ear book. Sound cannot stop us; to pluck out a note would make rain of a single drop. My three-year old daughter in the back seat yelled “traffics” on H1. I took care to repeat the word without s. It made less sense that way.

2 comments:

Karen said...

I love this. The only line that holds me back is "To see is to stop," which feels more device than a working line (maybe I see your hand too much with that line?) And I'm not sure you need it - poem moves along nicely without it. Love the rail with rain, corrugated tin, "traffics."

Janet said...

I like all the shifts in sound, from lower to lever, from stop to drops, but I especially like how the tin roof transforms light to sound, and how "traffics" really makes more sense than traffic when you're driving in it. Not to confuse it with "trafficking."