Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Apples and Frost

I have been thinking about Frost's poem After Apple Picking since Tuesday when I read it on Seattle poet T Clear's blog - as part of the Tuesday Poem - and watched Frost read it there (thanks to a crazy digital animator on youtube). It is unbelievably moving and an example of the sort of poetry I am currently smitten with - poetry that appears personal but really is a hand grabbing your throat ...

Such images here, such writing. The extract below, for example, has risen up before me unexpectedly throughout the day today ... that 'shimmer' in the sight ... the 's' and 'm' sounds that hum between lines...the poignancy of 'I am drowsing off' (the whole poem and a lovely photo of picked apples can be found at T Clear's blog).

I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples; I am drowsing off.
I cannot shake the shimmer from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the water-trough,
And held against the world of hoary grass.




Some other wonderful poems that are 'shimmers' of nature can be found on Tuesday Poem this week - HERE and HERE.

4 comments:

Elisabeth said...

I am in awe.

To me this is a poet at work, alive and haunting, his words - every word - reverberates through my skin down into my bones and I can feel the chill of age and death as it encroaches.

Thank you for this, Mary. Thank you again.

T. said...

Thanks Mary for linking to my blog! I listened to this again yesterday while sitting outside -- late summer, evening, and the knowledge that comes with the cooler air that the season is pushing for a change.

I absolutely LOVE the connections we bloggers are forging across the planet because of you! A thousand thank-you's!

Kathleen Jones said...

Thank you for posting this Mary - I love Robert Frost, but when I begin analysing his poetry, I've no idea how something so simple can evoke so much. They hit you in the gut.
Just reading The Blue (seemed appropriate given where I am!) and liking it very much,.

Rachel Fenton said...

Wow!