E.J.F. Greenfield - Antarctic Ice Cave
You were the black wall of our cave,
Hard and icy, but still,
Shelter. I needed to get down
And snake to you, quiet like
The other snakes and creep up
Next to the spiders
With barbed legs and crooked mouths.
I slipped between the bones,
Tried to act like I had always been there,
Because you don’t just walk into a cave,
toss your coat on a stalagmite,
and sing out your homecoming.
You changed the pitfalls,
The triggers for tumbling rocks.
If I figured out the game, I tasted
The pure water from your hidden veins
Of cracking gold. But we both knew
That most times I brought the wrong gear,
Spoke too loud, or stepped too carelessly.
Only an alien fungus could have flourished there,
And even now
I still can’t see in the dark.
Another amazing poem, C.L. Great imagery and metaphor. (Brrrr…., think I’ve been in that “cave” before…..)
I love how you laugh at yourself, C.L. Extremely good use here of the internals of a cave. Thank you very much for this wonderful ice cave painting you display.
That last line especially works brilliantly. I very much enjoyed this.
‘toss your coat on a stalagmite’ is awesome. This reminds me of a silly game I play when I walk across the parking lot at work each morning. I pretend the rows of cars are like a cave with off-branches between the cars. I never know when some huge adventure will be waiting just around a corner. If my co-workers knew this they’d think I was mad!!! Great poem. jane
The language is extraordinary again–as is the poem. First the personification of the cave, making the cave a metaphor, and then the deprecating comments about the poet, creating a swirl that wraps into the cave image, the self, and the meaning which you don’t just walk into, throwing your coat on a stalagmite. Great poem.
Hey! C.L. Just reading some of your work. Like always, they are rare gems. Your use of language is intriguiging to me. And encouraging. At this point, I feel trapped in language, unable to simplify. But whenever I read one of your poems, I feel somewhat closer to freeing myself from these chains. I really admire your work.
Thank you for your generous complement! My language feels trapped inside the recesses of my mind right now….I wish it would come back out!