the run

for derek walcott RIP

Nearly complete; you've walked past mythical gardens,

past living rooms with gilded brass ormolu

that if you were to sit, you would unknowingly shine

with your good, woolen sleeve

Or the dog you never brought home from the shelter.

The one with the half foot and blind to place your pity in

or rum the giants fur boots slain with sword from the hide

of Orion.

Then identify the person who sits on the thrown as you.

Pimple faced and impotent. Overslept the secrets

that someone other than you shown themselves:

I, we, us, all, the King, the Jesus, the lover. Grace.

But recall how to save the best of decorations,

the useful tinsel for the next time you feel sorry

for the independence you call beauty

that lays each night with your nakedness,

oh Caribbean,

still alive.

Reviews

[wordman]

it seems we are losing a lot of great people,great tribute,great writing

[h d e rushin]

we sure are wordman......and none greater than Walcott....he was just amazing.....dana

[wordman]

yes he was

[jacob erin-cilberto]

ah lecherous like Rimbaud, or bukowski...

you portray him....the man, bad, the poetry beautiful...only you can pull this off this well.

j.

[h d e rushin]

thank you jacob dearest friend....we've lost a giant the other day with the passing of Derek Walcott. My wish is that every new poet would stop what their doing and visit his poetry....Their lives would be changed, as was mine.....thank you dear friend.

[Winslow Des Totes]

Oh wow. I didn't know what to think at first but the potent imagery and the deep undertones that bellowed about this piece were very striking and vibrant. I will give it a few more reads but I can say for sure fantastic write; it proved to be a very thought provoking and beautiful piece.

[h d e rushin]

thank you so much Windslow Des Totes....A true student of poetry you must be.......dana

[Winslow Des Totes]

:D :D

[redzone]

I am ashamed to say I did not know the writings of Derek Walcott, but will do so now... a wonderful poet but a lecherous man... I am led to wonder why so many of our honored male poets also have sorted lives??

I liked the way you weave the metaphors around his life and the way you end this poem... "oh Caribbean still alive", insightful I would say... nicely done Dana...

redzone

[h d e rushin]

thank you redzone....and it's so true. Thomas, Crane, Frost, Hughes, Ginsberg, etc...were all, in their times, troubled. I try to separate the art from the man or the poetry from the muse if you will. thanks again for those kind comments.. dana