By Bettina Sperry
In the fields, the grass, the hills,
I searched and wondered
And looked afar.
A fall, a winter, a quiet spring,
The stillness eerie, abruptly marked,
I questioned deception with presence of mind
As if you were watching the entire time.
This morning, I peered
Just through the fog
As once before, brown rustling leaves,
Among the compost of winter debris
In the crib barn a playful lot,
Raised under foot, as mother would say.
| Copyright © 2019 by Bettina Sperry |
There seem to be several layers of memory at play here, beneath the surface - or under foot? I love the quiet energy of the calm cadence, how it adds to the sense of joining you on a walk that is both an outdoor trek and an interior journey.
ReplyDeleteThank you, yes several layers (years) of memory and experience.
DeleteInterestingly different readings. From the first time I read this poem, and thereafter, the implied narrator was not the farmer, but the young fox, and the "mother" referred to was its own mother, and a mother fox's young are literally "under foot" as newborns. Now, of course, prompted by Geoffrey's reading, I can read it as its narrator being the farmer. I still find "questioning deception" to go better with a fox narrator; the fox would need to be – would naturally be – much more suspicious and wary than the farmer.
ReplyDeleteQuestioning deception refers to "no sight of the fox" for several seasons, given that it has been around for several years. Fox are deceptive by nature. I spent months looking for the fox in the fields - where I usually found it - but it showed up "under foot" in my barn (where I would stand looking for it) with an entire family (babies under foot of the mother) - they clearly had been watching me, much as I was looking for them, because when I finally "found" them and walked over they just sort of either stared (photo) or ran around, but not necessarily away from me. So both perspectives fit. It just worked that way, beautifully.
DeleteThanks for providing the backstory. I could use some backstory for some of Eric Meub's poems too! Of course, it's fun just re-reading them occasionally to see what new, or different, meanings and associations come up.
DeleteI agree with the enjoyment of creating self-understanding. We stand to gain more.
Delete