Drums of Summer
“Remember the wind. Remember her voice.
She knows the
origin of this universe.”
Joy Harjo
Thunderheads are all pulse undulate
and they swell, climb as throbbing
bright nimbus, a pure need to seed the sky.
They say that the queen mother cleans
the courtyard with swirling gusts and gales.
We wonder at the winds. Is it her?
Are we just a litter? Again we remember,
she cleans because she knows
father is returning.
Oh yeah, we remember you were first to know,
to know he survived. First to see, to see
the gleaming eyes. First to feel the smooth skin
of him. First to echo, echo back deeper.
of him. First to echo, echo back deeper.
First to know the spear of the wind.
Remember the wind.
The wing, the cloud, the rain and mountain,
the lightning. The shells and beads
collected in the filaments and mycillia
of space, that wrap her waist
are lapping waves
of space, that wrap her waist
are lapping waves
as she sways.
As she cleans:
one chamber of this human home
sends a strong rhythm into the other.
We do not believe she is our mother.
There is only all or there is only none.
Summer brings a quick death to Spring.
This is knowing. Such is way of breath.
The twins skins echo within the rests.
We do not believe she is our mother.
We do not believe she is our mother.
We do not believe,
we know. Even still, palm on skin.
15 thoughts on "Drums of Summer"
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DAMN!!!!!!!! This had from beginning to end. There are some trash mouth editors that don’t see the power of hypnotic use of rhythm in verse using anchoring, repetitive words and you nail this so well. Love your work here Coleman. Not to mention the mystery that we don’t have to try to believe anything. Either we know the shit or we don’t. Either way – hand to the plow. Cut the damn wood. Dress yourself in the morning.
Manny, anyone who disdains repetition has never read Celans ‘Deathfuge’
gorgeous stuff as always. love the swirl of it all
i’d like to see you do this for fire and water too.
an elemental trio (?)
Ohhhhhhhh !
Brilliant!
You are brilliant.
Yes yes yes! Love the sonics of this. You’re on a roll.
Thanks Kevin.
Whew !
That’s why we had to leave early 🙂
Whew!
Speaking of rolls …….hamburgers !
I would think Joy Harjo would love this somehow. I love “a pure need to seed the sky” and then the repetition later, like the use of “firsts” to come.
Thanks for that Shaun, I like to think she would.
We had a chance to see her read
and afterwords there was music and dancing. 🙂 I can still see her.
Neat stuff 🙂
Thanks for the comment on the ‘firsts’
That part, whew, that part.
Thanks for brining us Image the rainstorm.
Love the concept of the queen mother cleaning– is all just so tight.
Appreciate every carefully given drop of your poems. Thank you.
Bravo.
Thank you for reading them Tabitha 🙂 and yes me too I’ve always kinda thought the idea of cleaning with the wind was really neat 🙂
to paraphrase Marilyn Robinson: it’s not that you have rejected belief but you have moved beyond the forms in which it has been expressed
🙂 yes, the forms and language that we have available to us tend to blend things together that tend to separate if ya stop mixing 🙂
I think this one was, so far, the most difficult to shape and the most enjoyable to work with so far this year.
I’m going to go all the way back to the top to echo Manny. The possessive power of the shrinking rhythm, the skillful repetition without redundancy, but the pace and propulsion that drive this poem have the reader in me so super charged. I envision this on stage. The musicality is exceptional!
I adore Joy Harjo. Your poem, like hers, takes the sacred and brings it form for us earth walkers to see.
Love:
the queen mother cleans
the courtyard with swirling gusts and gales.
First to feel the smooth skin
of him.
one chamber of this human home
sends a strong rhythm into the other.
and how the questions move the poem forward