Friday, January 08, 2010

Entry #46

Night Flight
by Tessa Edwards


I fly intransigent
From a past ephemeral day
On a night flight to Paris.
Amongst the starry cosmos
We jet toward the Borealis.
And beneath lie fluid landscapes,
Crests, valleys and nipple hills.
A wild wasted wilderness, the sands
Of that desolate Eastern Erg
Emerging gold against the dawn.
.
Volcanic plugs pierce crystalline rock
Sand fingers, petrified trunks,
Still dark against the dawn.
Mysterious unfinished places,
In this strange Garden of Allah
With the blue cloaked Tuareg
And the wild colocynth melons
Ripening in coarse tangled leaves.
Bleached bones lie strewn jagged,
A necklace turned to dust.

I ask what traveller, voyager
Pilgrim, migrant, fortune hunter, pioneer
Roamed these Dali-esque dunescapes.
What Mozabite, Bedouin, Berber
Trod these crescent paths,
These seifs, this moonscape?
As camel caravans sail silently
‘Cross ochre seas to Agadez.
And vultures soar on thermals
Satanic black against the dawn.

Here, high above the banded altostratus
Ensconced in airless droning comfort
And safe from stinging sand
I know that my salvation lies
In edifice of structure, those monuments
To history, those bricks of occidental culture.
But I will miss the lonely splendour of
Desert, sea and mountain spaces
Now honey bathed against the dawn
On this night flight to Paris.

24 comments:

Bernita said...

Truly a superb piece.
Dare I say "poetry in motion?"

DILLIGAF said...

You dare Benita...;-)

I'd never even tried to read poetry before finding Jasons competition.

I'd been missing out badly.

I may have limited poetry knowledge but I know what I like and I like this.

A lot.

Rachel Green said...

beautiful and lyrical

Lena said...

One of the best poems I have read any time lately. Truly beautifully written.

Preeti said...

There is a lushness in these verses which brings into mind visions of minarets, starry skies, mysterious women in veils and dark, handsome sheikhs. I loved it. Totally.

Sarah Laurenson said...

*sigh* Lovely. Just lovely.

PJD said...

It's got a very nice verbal aesthetic, and the rhythm is perfectly smoothed. Nicely done.

Unknown said...

Dali-esque dunescapes is awesome :D

adrienne trafford said...

i have a beautiful vision of a whole new world in my head after reading this...it's like a song - very moving and it kind of makes me weepy but i don't know why...

Aniket Thakkar said...

I'll leave it to the poets to critique. Though I keep experimenting, I don't consider myself one, yet.

All I can say is that I love it.

Craig said...

The imagery is fantastic.

JaneyV said...

I can almost smell the spices as I read. Beautiful. Paris will be such a let down after this.

Gorgeous. Sumptuous. Intoxicating.

laughingwolf said...

a keeper for sure, tessa, nicely done
:)

Tessa said...

I'm stunned! Thank you all SO much for your wonderfully encouraging comments. I'm tickled bright pink - thank you!

Chris Eldin said...

So pretty... I love your word choice and where the travels take us!

kashers said...

Lovely. Don't know whether it was me being fanciful, but I found myself reading it with the cadence of slow flapping wings.

catvibe said...

Poetry in flight... Just gorgeous.

Laurel said...

This flows like water. I particularly like the second and third stanzas. Although the subject matter is different, the images remind me of "Ozymandius"

I met a traveller from an antique land

two vast and trunkless legs of stone

beneath the shattered visage

nothing beside remains

sands stretch far away

Phrases like "sand fingers, petrified trunks, bleached bones, a necklace turned to dust" would fit right in.

Really pretty. Good work.

Anonymous said...

simply gorgeous

Anonymous said...

I really like this, the poetic layout and unique phrasing. Very eye catching.

Terri said...

Lovely :)
Reminds me of all the long-haul flights I've sat through, flying over the Sahara between Ireland and South Africa.

Harish said...

I enjoyed this flight very much. Vivid and descriptive. One of my favorites :)

Anonymous said...

Dear Entrants #1-105,

I have read your pieces so that I can fairly participate in the Readers' Choice vote. (I read all of them through last week, before I started commenting.) I will be coming back around to offer my keep/tweak comment, but I didn't want anyone to snark.

Cheers,
Aerin (#236)

BTW, it's perfectly fine if you still want to snark, but this way you can choose a more appropriate subject, like the new Starbucks paninis or the people over 35 who are exclusively on MySpace

Tessa said...

Thank you Chris, kashers, catvibe, Laurel, illyriataylor, CJT, Terri and Harish for taking the time to stop by and read my entry. I value each and every one of your comments...and all the more so because I know what a marathon (a marvellous one, mind you) its been to get through all the entries.

LOL Aerin - promise I won't snark! In fact, I'd be very grateful indeed for your 'keep/tweak' comments.