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Current mood:very tired
Category: Writing and Poetry
Contrast
I
She dreams amid the depthless id,
a realm of raw potential
drifting at the edge of thought.
Unmanifest essentials
percolate through layered folds of mind
forever just outside the touch of time.
She breathes creation deep in caverns, tucked
far from any insight, guess, or reason.
She seethes formation leagues beneath the waves,
far from hints of light or apprehension.
She is the well from whence the waters spring,
from whence the building blocks of life are sprung.
She is the void from whence the stars are born,
issued forth beyond the scope of scorn.
She sleeps eternal with the night,
giving birth to endless silhouettes
that rise into awareness, taking shape
as all the many forms that move amid the day.
II
He springs to life a burst of light,
exploding pure perception
figures brought to sudden view.
Diversified conceptions
manifest amid a constant stream
that sears the retina with vivid scenes.
He brings discernment high to foggy heights,
making all attempts to clear the distance.
He sings invention miles from the surf,
building means to navigate enigmas.
He is the peak from which the fires spring,
from which the smoke and thunderclap are sprung.
He is a vision, stirred from out the deep,
driven to avoid the sloughs of sleep.
He strives forever with the day,
raising every kind of edifice,
each structure hewn from earth and wood
to shelter nascent notions from the jaws of night.
III
They weave cotillions day by night,
dancing waves of symmetry
that co-arise from mystery
and foam against the light.
Their voices hum with rhythmic steps,
taps and scuffs of unity
reechoed through eternity
among the silent stars.
Arm in arm, from world to world,
they dip and rise, they tuck and twirl,
toe to toe and heel to heel
through galleries of loss.
They sway against impermanence,
reinventing innocence,
and recreating elegance
from water, dust, and ash.
This poem is my third synthetic ode. Though I started working with this form over a year ago, I've only managed the time for three of them. They're semantically and structurally complex not just to write, but even to think about. They are three part poems that take and run with some ideas from the original odes of Pindar, way back around 500BC. His extent odes are now referred to as Pindaric Odes, as are modern odes written in the same style (rare).
What I take from Pindar's odes is this: The first and second parts, the strophe and antistrophe, must be metrically identical and share many semantic and phonemic parallelisms between them. Part three, the epode, does not have to follow the metrical, semantic, or phonemic structure of the first two parts. There must be sufficient enough tension between the strophe and antistrophe as to represent two distinct voices. And, within the corpus of the author, the structural aspects (meter, parallelisms) of each ode should be unique to that ode alone—no other odes should use the same structure between them for parts one and two.
The reason I call my odes "synthetic odes" and not Pindaric Odes is because they attempt to incorporate Hegelian Synthesis into the structure. Thus part one becomes the thesis, part two the antithesis, and part three the synthesis. The thesis presents some idea, expression, vantage point, or perspective. The antithesis presents, as far as possible, the opposing idea, expression, vantage point, or perspective. The synthesis attempts to unify the oppositions, or at least explore a possible unification. In this poem are presented "yin", "yang", and "tao". In Pindar's odes, the epode was optional. In my odes, the synthesis is integral.
As a poet I strive to walk the thin frail line of "say what you feel" and "refine what you say"—the break-down of two opposing schools of poetry. But there is a third element not commonly talked about or recognized as integral to poetry and poetics—Reflection. I believe that the exploration of the synthetic ode is uniquely suited to the development of this element within one's craft.
6:59 AM
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