Welcome to the 163rd 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 2012 National Poetry Month Blog Tour.
Today’s poem is from Elana Bell‘s Eyes, Stones:
Flags (page 41) Everywhere, in the fertile soil of this land, we've planted flags. Flags sprout like the hair from an old man's nostrils. Blue and white or red, black, green and white, they shroud windows, standing in for a family you can't see: a flag instead of the mother who hums and spices the lentils, a flag for Father, who runs the blade against his cheek each morning with the rooster's kukuku. Later, in the dark, he holds his wife while the children sleep wrapped in flags. Flags grow in the garden, flags from the beaks of muted birds. Shredded flags drape phone wires, flags hang from the pines like dead hands—
What do you think?
I really liked this poem. I liked the humor with the nostrils at the beginning. I’m sure one could hold a lengthy discussion about at the imagery and what the flags mean in each instance.
I like that quality to the writing…humorous, but with an undercurrent of serious.