With my part of the country suffering weeks of heat degree days over one hundred, this poem about snow in November is cooling and refreshing.
Morning sleeps.
On the trees, bleak shadows
In the emptiness of ours.
Straining and taut
Are the strings of the air
November air
Awaiting the touch
Of the first earth-swinging snow.
Loosed by a zephyr,
the sky-wide zipper
spills its notes,
white drops,
Bright drops,
Hurling, swirling,
Tripping, skipping,
Skimming silver chords
Beating obligatos
On the cold air,
On the strings of cold, November air.
E. Coffey
This is one to recall while watching a good snow this November! Sky-wide zephyr-opened zipper spilling notes! The word "obbligato" sent me to Wikipedia for this enlightning description: "In connection with a keyboard part in the baroque period, obbligato has a very specific meaning: it describes a functional change from a basso continuo part (in which the player decided how to fill in the harmonies unobtrusively) to a fully written part of equal importance to the main melody part." The snowflakes, held in the background of the winter symphony, now play in the foreground, drawing us to their music.
ReplyDelete"Unobtrusive" in the Wikipedia description makes me think of Evelyn's own style. I wonder if inside she wished to be released like this?
I think she'd take me to task for persisting in this curiosity, but she'd do it with that mysterious smile of hers.