i ask for a dream to answer the question
i dream of a seal an affectionate seal
it wants to be in the house with the women
it slips through the door like water
the seal is blue . . . mottled . . . purple and gold
it’s the swimming colors of oil on water
one of the women who lives in the house
does not want the seal inside with the women
the seal stands up in the room like a woman
like a woman she walks on the shore
the seal is innocent the seal is a blessing
the seal is unguarded and fearless but shy
she drifts through my dream like water
she can swim in the depths she can surface
her fur is thick and sleek and dense
her fur is her skin of oil and colors
the deep black-blue and purple of ink
and the gold foil of secrets and vows
the seal glides through my mind like water
the seal is a sylph a cipher a bond
the seal is a veil consummation
the seal is an answer to every question
she circles my dream like water
This week’s prompt was to say why you think you’re alive, why you were born, and why you’re still around: What are your reasons?
So, just after agreeing that a poem needs to be intelligible and accessible. A poem should be capable of meaning something (Jim Murdock), I write this. But kasper reminds me:
Later, I found this:
My Message
Cecil RajendraAnd now you ask
what is my message
I say with Nabokov
I am a poet
not a postman
I have no message.but I want the cadences
of my verse to crack
the carapace of indifference . . .
Go to 3 Quarks Daily to read the rest.
And later still, thanks (again) to Ron Sipherd at The Well, here’s the word I sought and could not find: SELKIE
And from Anne: The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
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