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25 Sept 2022
J-T
Kelly
New
Moon
Oct 9th
Gone
Sep 10th
After A R Ammons’
Eyesight
Some things that go are gone
Forever. Some, like dawn,
Renew themselves, or are
Renewed. It’s true — look far
Enough, you’ll see the end
Of dawn. But who can see
So far and still pretend
To hate eternity?
Out there the veil is torn.
What’s gone is there reborn.
Out at the river’s head
The dead do not stay dead.
It’s only here, today,
We lose our lost for good —
Our joy three days away,
Our backs against the wood.
Behind the poem...
I wear trifocals, love the mountains, and without my wife to point them out to me, would miss every blooming thing in spring. So it’s no surprise I resonate with A R Ammons’ Eyesight, with its imagery of sight and its limits in the mountains; seeing far enough to make out what you’ll never reach, yet missing what’s up close – right in front of your eyes. I took the last line from Ammons’ poem as my starting point, then went wherever the subject took me.
