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137th Virtual Poetry Circle

February 18, 2012 by

Welcome to the 137th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2012 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry. Please visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April 2011 and beginning again in April 2012.

Today’s poems is from Molly Peacock:

Couple Sharing a Peach

It's not the first time
we've bitten into a peach.
But now at the same time
it splits--half for each.
Our "then" is inside its "now,"
its halved pit unfleshed--

what was refreshed.
Two happinesses unfold
from one joy, folioed.
In a hotel room
our moment lies
with its ode inside,
a red tinge,
with a hinge.

What do you think?

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  • Honestly, I found the rhyming very distracting. Well, you know I’m not a fan of rhyming poems!

  • Dawn – She Is Too Fond of Books

    How perfect that you focused on one of Peacock’s poems after recently reviewing her book.

    yes, bring on summer! And all the sensual imagery that this poem brings with it.

  • Liked the imagery, wasn’t sure if the line structure(skeleton?) Was deliberately hesitant but it struck me as having an awkwardness to it. Also it reminded me of
    The Bite by Nii Ayikwei Parkes

    The first caress was under water

    – a testing of firmness
    beneath a cool colourless flow
    The second was a touch much bolder

    -a teasing squeeze
    before I used my lips
    The bite was heaven

    In an instant
    there was sand between
    my toes and sun rays were playing
    a game of dare with my eyes…..
    “open up, open up….”

    I couldn’t

    for the juice
    shaping my cheeks
    would no longer be
    a tropical breeze
    and the skin rubbing my hungry lips
    would lose
    the mystery of the dark

    The paradise of a mango
    can only be experienced
    with the eyes closed.

    • Thanks for sharing that poem. I’d never read that one before and I can see why the Peacock poem reminded you of this one. I like the hesitancy in Peacock’s poem and I do think its intentional.

    • Gorgeous poem — those last three lines are perfect — I love it. My wife nannies for a kid who enjoys eating with his eyes closed — we thought he was being silly but perhaps he is on to something!

  • First, this made my mouth water — how badly do I want a peach now?! Summer, hurry up!

    Then, I thought of Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”:

    “I grow old … I grow old …
    I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

    Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
    I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
    I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.”

    Peacock’s poem is happier, of course, than Eliot’s — that pleasure of sharing something. Her line: “Two happinesses unfold/from one joy, folioed” just grabbed me — divine.

    • I love how this makes my mouth water every time I read it. My favorite lines are the end lines: “our moment lies
      with its ode inside,
      a red tinge,
      with a hinge.”

      • This also reminds me of a Diane Ackerman poem — another visceral/romantic piece. Funny how fruit/love goes together — or, maybe not funny, but…well, you know! 😉

        ‘ode inside’ is marvelous — I’ll be chewing over that line tonight when I make dinner for my wife and myself!