Clearing Out Old-Growth - Now With Notes
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Poet’s Notes:
A poem is like a painting in words where colors used can suggest a mood but often fails to adequately explain events the poet longs to share with his reader, unless he delights in deception, and sharing
is not his main objective. I would not be that kind of poet, and yet a poem’s brevity, its shape, both meter and rhyme, do limit what can
be said clearly. A poem’s not a novel where a mountain can be viewed more easily from different perspectives, or a painting where different colors are often used to express the same emotion. Some object to overstatement in any art form. Art is not a dictionary or just a diary
that only records facts. Room must be left for interpretation by the reader or some spice is missing, but no author’s clarity of expression can ever mean a reader will not see beyond his words. It is in this spirit that I humbly illuminate the world that I have attempted to capture
in this poem. Please feel free to ignore what follows in my Poet Notes! Embrace the poem as if it were your own life and not mine at all. I hope that that is what you take away (even if my footnotes impose at times on your perceptions!)
I dedicate this poem to Yuliya Verbitskaya (her maiden name) for whom I have written many poems over the past 30 years or so! I do love her even though my hopes for her future will never all be actualized! Still, there are years to go before I sleep, and I live in hope!
(1) The ‘parting’ referred to here is the day that Yuliya left my sphere of influence after she finished her Bachelor’s degree in International Business and divorced her first husband. This marriage solved her US citizenship issue, but human loneliness is a separate issue!
(2) A veiled reference to a famous poem “She Walks In Beauty” by Lord Byron, where “all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes” though human love is never innocent and beauty (or wealth) is no panacea!
(3) The ‘purpose’ described here is meant to be much more than a shared goal (goals have a beginning and an end). A real purpose is something to which one dedicates their life.
(4) The ‘pal’ referred to here is a ‘pen-pal.’ Yuliya and I did write several letters a week to each other for almost three years before we would meet again on the first of her two two-week visits to the US. I also later spent five-weeks visiting her family when she was in college.
(5) Twenty-eight years is our age difference. Yuliya was only 18, a senior in high school when we met. She spent the day taking me to visit different classes in her school. Students from an English club were
personal guides to each member of my tour group.
(6) I went to Russia was only because a friend was going and wanted company. But a week before we left, he met his wife-to-be, and, as a result, I had a nine-year-old boy for a roommate for the whole trip instead of my’ friend!’
(7) Billed as a ‘people-to-people trip,’ my first trip to Russia visited schools, stayed over-night in Russian homes, and met with Russian businesspeople as well as seeing sights around both Moscow and Leningrad.
(8) A veiled reference to a famous poem “Do Not Go Gentle Unto That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas. For me, sleep and death, even the loss of love, are not all that different.
(9) My thanks to the Beatles for their famous song, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” as well.
(10) A modification of an old English greeting, “Hail Fellow Well Met!”
(11) Yuliya and I are not as close today, as others now meet our deepest needs. But I am still a family friend.
(12) There are so many kinds of prosperity in this world, but for me, the ‘Grace’ we give others, tops them all!
(13) A famous quote from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.”
(14) In my life experience, I dined on a lot of soup (which can be tasty) before I discovered raw oysters and Indian Curry! Also, it is hard to beat a good steak!
(15) “The play’s the thing” is borrowed phrase from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” but my meaning is quite different from Hamlet’s, I think!
(16) A ‘coop’ is a cage or a pen that confines chickens, but ‘to fly the coop’ suggests that something that was trapped has escaped (an English idiom!)
(17) “What-should-bees” is meant to be a joking reference to ‘human expectations.’
Clearing Out Old Growth
Last week I cleared some old growth, ‘parting’ (1) planted in my yard,
An Avocado tree you’d grown from ‘pit’ of eaten fruit.
Tree’s color for your living space! But pots do limit roots
(Which leads to stunted growth) though I felt watered by your smile.
You left, at last, trees in the room, ‘first’ husband slightly scarred,
A good man too, who loved your aspect; (2) letting go, astute!
Best fight (to join) shares’ purpose’ (3) more than fresh or scarred recruits!
But did ‘Love’ lose? The truth, I think, was love evolved more style.
Though love oft plays on ‘tilted field,’ intelligence: Well matched!
I led by twenty-seven points, still sought to be a ‘pal’ (4)
(I twice divorced at forty-five) to flower just in bloom, (5)
My province: tenderfoot on tour, a ‘stranger in strange land’ (6)
With Russia thought our enemy! Yet peaceful plans were hatched
Amidst the pathos of this plight! “Show human face,” our rationale! (7)
Can thought exist that does not ‘rage at night,’ (8) reject love’s doom?
Though time may laugh at my expense, I still would “hold your hand!” (9)
Now in my life, I’ve found a love that’s soared beyond my dreams,
And poetry (that leaves me breathless), ‘hail verse (so) well met!’ (10)
We’re wizened now, blush gone, as well, from youth, prowess,
Might you or I take ‘second look?’ (11) I sigh! Was fault our age
Or more our ‘Age?’ Abundance lives in more than schemes!
Dreams too! (12) The world sees US wealth and hopes to vet,
To equal, and perhaps, exceed America’s success.
Quoth Shakespeare (paraphrased), “We’re all poor actors on life’s stage!” (13)
To work for love with no complaints suggests you value soup! (14)
In time you’ll find someone to love for whom love’s more than face
Or ties to wealth! Is love a boat that mortals commandeer
Or are we passengers at last who find “the play’s the thing,” (15)
That expectations strangle love that doesn’t flee the ‘coop,’ (16)
That no chain binds (or helps control) that rust will not erase.
The heart of Love begs you release all those you would keep near.
No prison built can hold a soul, but what-should-bees can sting! (17)
Brian Johnston
26th of October in 2019
(Please See Poet's Notes!)
Copyright © Brian Johnston | Year Posted 2019
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