Telling
(Camping with my grandson:
An archery lesson)
After a bout of your impatience
we snuggle down in the tent
and I say
anger is like a bow with one arrow,
let it go and listen to the whiz
of its force. The point of its power
can race into the sky
and, bent by its own gravity,
boomerang
and pierce your heart with anguish
Before any crack of dawn
I awaken you from a fitful dream
to watch the sky’s great hunter
go to bed. In a scuffled voice
you tell me about your sleeping self:
I was in the woods
and there was William Tell
staggering around and hollering
at me to stand in front of the big oak.
I pressed my face against its bark
then turned and when I saw
the feather fly,
I saw that William Tell was me
14 thoughts on "Telling"
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nice work.
I got chills at that ending. I enjoyed this poem a lot.
This is great. Anger being like a bow with one arrow really sticks with me.
Your grandson was a listening. Great writing.
An excellent write, Jim, as usual.
Clever title. Like the use of whiz and the lines “boomerang/
and pierce your heart with anguish” He’s lucky to have a teacher like you!
Same – love the reflection of the lesson.
The lesson begins “Anger is like a bow…” That could be a good place for the poem to begin.
The title doesn’t tell readers much about the poem.” “An Archery Lesson” coud be a bullseye of a title.
The ending surprised and delighted me! Well done!
Thanks for suggestions Tom
It’s been a long time since I heard anyone mention William Tell. I love how you played off the legend.
This one would be a nice companion piece to the one you wrote about your granddaughter! Perhaps it a booklet like Stick Tight Man?
This poem is tender and wise-the grandfather teaching his grandson about letting go of anger and the grandson realizing (in the dream) that his anger really harms himself.
love how you let your arrow of wisdom fly and it came back to him through the sky in a dream!