Suppose first light spikes between limbs of the black ash
into the dog kennel where hounds brace their paws
against chain links and their spittle turns to vapor
as the farmer brings them water and a kettle of scraps
then goes back to the main house to help his wife in labor
and suppose he genuflects and counts her rapid breaths
and feels the thrum of blood move through her body
his trousers’ knees and shirt sleeves wet as he waits
to catch the stillborn they’ve named Maia of the Angels
while outside a breeze rattles the wheat stalks and stirs
the chaff left on the field hayed days before it flowered
suppose this farmer returns to the barn for a shovel
to bury their child and in the rafters hears the rustle
of rats in the loft while his hounds bay to stalk a fox
while his wife Marta wraps their baby in white cloth
if you think everything disappears fully think again
suppose come late spring she digs up her child’s
scaffold of white bones and presses them to her breast
to suckle her loss and what if she eats the grave dust
under her own nails and what if the farmer does
what needs doing back in the hayloft
by pushing down a bale of fodder
for the milk cows
Joseph Zaccardi served as Marin County, CA poet laureate (2013-2015), and during his tenure published and edited Changing Harm to Harmony: Bullies & Bystanders Project. CW Books published his fourth poetry book, A Wolf Stands Alone in Water. His poems have appeared in Cincinnati Review, Poetry East, Spillway, and elsewhere.
That poem is as dark as it gets. Morbid and sickening. Connects to cannibalism. Eating a fetus? Sorry but you can say it can mean something else in his mind but really it is a sick poem. Really sick. @Oh_Well_ian
Please stop the name calling. You and Ian are both great researchers. We must respect each other. I am not a published poet but have written some. No I don’t profess to have all the answers here. That is why we are looking at all of it. This may turn into nothing but it all must be turned over before we are done.
This may turn into nothing but it all must be turned over before we are done.
It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity (because the poet had the same name as the murder/suicide case children's author. I stand corrected on that point (and using edits have struck out some things I said) but I stand on my take on the poem which has nothing to do with cannibalism of a stillborn. (Not even the same guy so attributing a gruesome assumption to the poem is even more off base at this point).
After researching I believe there are elements in the poem that may refer to Feminist Goddess worship and concepts stemming from or borrowed from Hinduism.
True, and part of that is respecting the purpose of this subverse. OP began with a negative connotation about the mods and proceeded to post on something he believed didn't make the grade. Fine. It's then up to the "great researchers" to see if the case holds merit to stay. @Oh_Well_Ian had a rush to judgement and didn't follow through. I decided to look and see if he was onto something but he wasn't. He took that personally and was obstinate, to the point of blaming me as part of the problem of there being a lack of involvement on this sub. I disagree and feel fine about pointing out his poor judgement and lack of effort on this particular post.
That is why we are looking at all of it. This may turn into nothing but it all must be turned over before we are done.
Who's turning over anything but conjecture and jumping to poorly founded conclusions? I made a good case to ian and welcome any earnest attempt to come up with a better explanation. Since he has made no such attempt, I consider that lazy. Since he blames me for the state of PG, I think he's behaved like an ass. People can come to their own conclusions.
Hate to get involved in this, and hate even more that sometimes people reach reaaaallly far to draw conclusions and connections regarding PG . IMHO this is one case where some critical thinking might have prevented this debate. I don’t see anything nefarious in the poem - rather it speaks of a sorrow so deep and unfathomable that it can’t be put in to words.
I agree the poem is one about grief over loss ("sorrow so deep and unfathomable" well said btw), specifically of the loss of an expected child. It's an intense poem that captures that imho.
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Not_Spartacus ago
To Feast on the Flesh of Decay
Suppose first light spikes between limbs of the black ash
into the dog kennel where hounds brace their paws
against chain links and their spittle turns to vapor
as the farmer brings them water and a kettle of scraps
then goes back to the main house to help his wife in labor
and suppose he genuflects and counts her rapid breaths
and feels the thrum of blood move through her body
his trousers’ knees and shirt sleeves wet as he waits
to catch the stillborn they’ve named Maia of the Angels
while outside a breeze rattles the wheat stalks and stirs
the chaff left on the field hayed days before it flowered
suppose this farmer returns to the barn for a shovel
to bury their child and in the rafters hears the rustle
of rats in the loft while his hounds bay to stalk a fox
while his wife Marta wraps their baby in white cloth
if you think everything disappears fully think again
suppose come late spring she digs up her child’s
scaffold of white bones and presses them to her breast
to suckle her loss and what if she eats the grave dust
under her own nails and what if the farmer does
what needs doing back in the hayloft
by pushing down a bale of fodder
for the milk cows
Joseph Zaccardi served as Marin County, CA poet laureate (2013-2015), and during his tenure published and edited Changing Harm to Harmony: Bullies & Bystanders Project. CW Books published his fourth poetry book, A Wolf Stands Alone in Water. His poems have appeared in Cincinnati Review, Poetry East, Spillway, and elsewhere.
carmencita ago
That poem is as dark as it gets. Morbid and sickening. Connects to cannibalism. Eating a fetus? Sorry but you can say it can mean something else in his mind but really it is a sick poem. Really sick. @Oh_Well_ian
kestrel9 ago
WRONG, nice standing up for lazy ass @Oh_Well_ian Apparently neither one you know much about poetry. You're a mind reader too? What am I thinking?
carmencita ago
Please stop the name calling. You and Ian are both great researchers. We must respect each other. I am not a published poet but have written some. No I don’t profess to have all the answers here. That is why we are looking at all of it. This may turn into nothing but it all must be turned over before we are done.
kestrel9 ago
It turned out to be a case of mistaken identity (because the poet had the same name as the murder/suicide case children's author. I stand corrected on that point (and using edits have struck out some things I said) but I stand on my take on the poem which has nothing to do with cannibalism of a stillborn. (Not even the same guy so attributing a gruesome assumption to the poem is even more off base at this point).
carmencita ago
Its gruesome and sick. I still think it smacks of something macabre. No matter who wrote it. Just a different opinion that’s all.
kestrel9 ago
After researching I believe there are elements in the poem that may refer to Feminist Goddess worship and concepts stemming from or borrowed from Hinduism.
kestrel9 ago
True, and part of that is respecting the purpose of this subverse. OP began with a negative connotation about the mods and proceeded to post on something he believed didn't make the grade. Fine. It's then up to the "great researchers" to see if the case holds merit to stay. @Oh_Well_Ian had a rush to judgement and didn't follow through. I decided to look and see if he was onto something but he wasn't. He took that personally and was obstinate, to the point of blaming me as part of the problem of there being a lack of involvement on this sub. I disagree and feel fine about pointing out his poor judgement and lack of effort on this particular post.
Who's turning over anything but conjecture and jumping to poorly founded conclusions? I made a good case to ian and welcome any earnest attempt to come up with a better explanation. Since he has made no such attempt, I consider that lazy. Since he blames me for the state of PG, I think he's behaved like an ass. People can come to their own conclusions.
terddferguson ago
Hate to get involved in this, and hate even more that sometimes people reach reaaaallly far to draw conclusions and connections regarding PG . IMHO this is one case where some critical thinking might have prevented this debate. I don’t see anything nefarious in the poem - rather it speaks of a sorrow so deep and unfathomable that it can’t be put in to words.
kestrel9 ago
I agree the poem is one about grief over loss ("sorrow so deep and unfathomable" well said btw), specifically of the loss of an expected child. It's an intense poem that captures that imho.