My Present Fixation
I can coax out of the deep freeze of memory
boutique Hotel Búðir, a cove with large rocks,
bobs of seaweed, gulls crying happily
above the Icelandic coast, black church glazed
by midnight sun, a pier from which one
could stand and look out on an indifferent sea,
feel the wind blowing in from America, traces
of felled redwood, modified wheat, city exhaust,
salt from trolling nets hung up
after a bust season now tattered by rot,
self subsumed in the present unfamiliar moment,
a glacier suspended on a mountain side,
as if all clocks had agreed
to stop ruining everything.
10 thoughts on "My Present Fixation"
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Bill, this is such an immersive poem!
How stunning, Bill! The images place us right there in the moment. I especially enjoyed that last couplet. Wonderful.
“as if all clocks had agreed/ to stop ruining everything.” Yes! Good one.
Yep: “as if all clocks had agreed/to stop ruining everything.”
your poem is like a painting that freezes time
I’d be fixated on it too
I agree with Gaby- a painting that freezes time! Beautifully done.
Love the “deep freeze of memory.” Damn the greedy clocks!
You had me with the title and first line! Then you spill out these images so beautifully that it takes me/us along for an unexpected ride. (And- I love the ambiguity of those clocks at the end. “as if” )
I hope this comes true…
as if all clocks had agreed/to stop ruining everything.