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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>I liked it.</p><p class=MsoNormal>I like the use of the image of shifting, wind blown sand crystals.</p><p class=MsoNormal>They form shapes and go in only 1 direction as does time.</p><p class=MsoNormal>And, as I think she is musing on, time is the conductor of all things and events as we watch, listen with appreciation, to the music of the spheres as it were.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Again, prettyinteresting use of imagery.</p><p class=MsoNormal>I have wondered about technical breakdowns of some of these poems as to meter.</p><p class=MsoNormal>How do the various authors count various syllabols and various linguistic helper words.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Is it even important in todays free-wheeling poetry environment?</p><p class=MsoNormal>I really don’t know and have been writing my lyrics as a sort of rhyming prose to avoid the complexities of formal structure but do want to do things quite well so am asking.</p><p class=MsoNormal>I don’t mean any criticism, just interested in what you pros do or appreciate when reading a poem so I can apply current norms to my song lyrics.</p><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks Ann and other writers:</p><p class=MsoNormal>Richard R. Thomas (Rick USA) </p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sent from <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986">Mail</a> for Windows</p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal style='border:none;padding:0in'><b>From: </b><a href="mailto:stylist@nfbnet.org">Ann Chiappetta via Stylist</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Tuesday, December 20, 2022 4:20 PM<br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:stylist@nfbnet.org">Writers' Division Mailing List</a><br><b>Cc: </b><a href="mailto:anniecms64@gmail.com">Ann Chiappetta</a><br><b>Subject: </b>[Stylist] a poem</p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Origin of Planets<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Jennifer Foerster<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In this version, the valley<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>lime green after rain<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>rolls its tides before us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A coyote bush shivers with seed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We hold out our palms as if catching snow—<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>our villages of circular tracts<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>overcast with stars.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We have been moving together in sequence<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>for thousands of years, paralyzed<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>only by the question of time.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>But now it is autumn under bishop pines—<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the young blown down by wind feed<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>their lichens to the understory.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We follow the deer-path<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>past the ferns, to the flooded<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>upper reaches of the estuary.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The channel snakes through horsetails<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and hemlock as the forest deepens, rises<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>behind us and the blue heron,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>frozen in the shallows.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The shadow of her long neck ripples.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Somewhere in the rustling tulle reeds<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spider is casting her threads to the light<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and we spot a crimson-hooded fly agaric,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>her toadstool’s gills white<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>as teeth as the sun<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> bleeds into the Pacific.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We will walk the trail<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>until it turns to sand<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and wait at the spit’s edge, listening<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>to the breakers, the seagulls<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>as they chatter their twilight preparations.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>What we won’t understand<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>about the sound of the sea is no different<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>than the origin of planets<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>or the wind’s crystalline structures<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>irreversibly changing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The albatross drags her parachute<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>over the earth’s gaping mouth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We turn back only for the instant<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the four dimensions fold<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>into a sandcastle—before its towers<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>are collapsed by waves.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The face that turns<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>toward the end of its world<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>dissolves into space—<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>despite us, the continuum<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>remains.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Copyright © 2022 by Jennifer Elise Foerster. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 20, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Ann M. Chiappetta, M.S.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'>Making Meaningful ConnectionsThrough Media <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>914.393.6605 USA<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:Anniecms64@gmail.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>Anniecms64@gmail.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>All things Annie: <a href="http://www.annchiappetta.com"><span style='color:#0563C1'>www.annchiappetta.com</span></a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>