Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Nightfall on Montana Avenue   [sonnet]


When class is over Soha speaks of love
how Ishq is a word describing tendril vines
that cling to the tree more tightly than a glove
& need it more than a tippler craves his wines

she says she went into dance because she sought
to comprehend what's human in our expression
while robotics is another strand she caught
to examine this (and thus isn't a digression)

she reconstructs the gestures of antiquity
and choreographs with freshness & elan
we're told that God has infinite ubiquity
and is himself our breath (our very pran)

can a dance class lend a glimpse of his delight?
might it deepen with the beauty of the night?



===============
 
for Soha Sharif
 
June 24, 2014

Notes:
Ishq (Arabic for "love").  Specifically, Soha (the dance teacher / scholar) explained the word Ishq as cognate to and originating in Ashagheh (the name for the plant we call Ivy).
Pran (Hindi for "breath").
 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Reindeer Pâté [villanelle]


Doesn't reindeer pâté
made by Francophone tribals
hold a certain caché?

naturally one must pay
for one's books & one's Bibles
and one's reindeer pâté

in this world's wide array
if the mind stalls & idles
asking what's the caché?

where's the curd amid whey?
where's the pith behind titles?
granting reindeer pâté

isn't likely to sway
your American Idols
who can't grok its caché

darling that's quite okay!
(sez the swain as he sidles)
mightn't reindeer pâté
hold a secret cache?



===========

for Ariel McClanahan Watson