Drawing by Susan C. Price
Penny
By Eric Meub
Penny
By Eric Meub
[Originally published on March 11, 2017]
Behind us naps the Byzantine and Belle
Époque of the Excelsior Hotel;
before us, Adriatic shallows flood
a Canaletto flat of sand and mud.
Look! I’m a mudder, and my sister shrouds
her Beach-Peach toenails under thunderclouds.
At ten, I hoard attention jealously,
but now her eyebrow arches just for me.
Parades of future accolades, awards,
and lovers rise prefigured by such chords—
but weeks dilute the Lido, the lagoon,
the glare of a Venetian afternoon.
A vacancy of canvas-gray appears:
no pigments have survived the tidal years
besides this relic, out of character,
to whom, therefore, all other tints refer.
| Copyright © 2018 by Susan C. Price & Eric Meub Eric Meub, architect, lives and practices in Pasadena, the adopted brother of the artist, Susan C. Price. They respect, in their different ways, the line. |
When I read this poem for the third or fourth time, almost two years ago, I though I understood it, "got" it, but on my fifth and sixth readings now, I'm not so sure. Does that first "now" refer to the time when the narrator said, "Look, I'm a mudder," to her sister, or to a time years later (after the tidal years)? I'd like the latter, so I might try to interpret "relic" to refer to the sister's arched eyebrow. Otherwise, what could the "relic" be? Or am I, as I did a month ago, over-interpreting a poem whose intent was simpler than my sort-of-literal reading assumes? Oh, Eric, endless wonder in your allusive verse!
ReplyDeleteEric's wordsmithing is so fine/I sit back in awe/so superior to mine/ it sticks in my craw!
ReplyDeleteHe DOES serve as a fine inspiration for you and me to TRY to smith our words better than we do, doesn't he! His skill, which I believe, from all he has told me (even if extremely modestly), enables him to write these gems with ease and without strain, is awesome.
DeleteSeventh reading: "relic...to whom" suggests that "the relic" is a person. Might it be a photo or a drawing of her sister? Might it be the very drawing by Susan C. Price that heads and inspired the poem! By jove, have I solved the puzzle?
ReplyDeleteEric tried, unsuccessfully, to leave the following comment, before he emailed it to me to see whether I could post it:
ReplyDeleteMorris and Roger, what kind words. You do me too much credit. Roger, while I love your rhyming comment (I have never come across such an excellent rhyme for “awe”!), nothing I have written is superior to your line about the jasmine blossoms "effortlessly shouldering the feathery weight of their melodious Latin appellation: cestrum nocturnum." And then to find out, at the end, that the “perfume of jasmine” will always remind you of the deaths of two little boys. Now that's something I wish I had written, along with so many other beautifully crafted pieces you have shared with us. As for “the relic,” I am afraid, once again, Morris is too smart for me. The relic is merely the memory described in the poem, the only fragment remaining of a formerly immense set of recollections. Next time, I will truly make each word mean more, so that you needn't hunt in vain!
For Eric to praise my word craft is a compliment to cherish. Thank you sir.
ReplyDelete