Tuscan
after centuries of raising
things out of rot,
wine and raisins
fraught promises, razed
soil and more work
what rage was wrought
of these sought promises?
to return to the soil
after centuries
what was sought and bought
left to rot
stunned wages--
amidst the wilds and thistles
of the Tuscan hills
epistles whose lines are written still
while the very ground unwinding
by the windmill
and still and still
that with each drop, we shall return to the soil
amended
after centuries of raising
things out of rot,
wine and raisins
fraught promises, razed
soil and more work
what rage was wrought
of these sought promises?
to return to the soil
after centuries
what was sought and bought
left to rot
stunned wages--
amidst the wilds and thistles
of the Tuscan hills
epistles whose lines are written still
while the very ground unwinding
by the windmill
and still and still
that with each drop, we shall return to the soil
amended
Hey Vasiliki! Thank you for your great comments/suggestions on Return -- esp regarding its "container". I wonder if the ghazal form might work...going to try it!
ReplyDeleteTuscan (the word makes me think of Etruscan also) is a very Vasiliki poem -- the economy, the playing with sounds. I love how so many words rhyme and echo throughout the poem, pulling us along, line by line -- from raising/raisins/razed/rage/wages to rot/fraughts/wrought/sought/bought and finally to wilds/thistles/epistles/lines/still/windmill.
I am not completely sure what is going on in the poem -- it seems to be speaking of cycles, life cycles, working the land, returning to the land, bringing forth from the land. The "drop" in the final stanza is a reference to wine (I believe?) and plays off the ways we can return to the earth -- through the taste of its produce (its healing power perhaps?) and as ashes ourselves. I am puzzled by "stunned wages" and the unwinding ground, but love love the line "epistles whose lines are written still" -- brings to mind rows of grapes as far as the eye can see.