The Apostrophe Blog
This ekphrastic, free-verse poem was inspired by Dianne Kornberg’s photographs of kelp from the University of Washington’s marine algae Herbarium in her exhibit, Evidence of Its Occurrence, at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, Oregon, 2005. After borrowing a version of her title for my own, I then decided to use anaphora to create the rhythm and cadence of this poem that ranges its ways around and through numerous difficult subjects. The Poetry Foundation has this definition for this poetic device: “the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or lines to create a sonic effect.”
“Evidence, Occurrence” won second place in the Dueling Judges category of the Oregon Poetry Association’s Fall 2014 contest. It was published in the 2015 edition Oregon Poetry Association print anthology, Verseweavers and later was included in my poetry collection, Every Door Recklessly Ajar.
EVIDENCE, OCCURRENCE
because a lampshade was once made of skin
because a banana peel became craved and fought-for food
because the branch bearing a body gone fruit shaded the klieg lights underneath
because the pulp from inside got looted, bargained, sold
because a cord seeking a socket
might mean electrocution
might mean a bath of yellowing death-wash fright
because a kite might be all of these things
in its lilt above dry sand
to measure currents
to trace a cemetery
to trace an alphabet of birth that reminds
oh good
oh holy
sea, and sky
maybe we prefer when the world is
flatten, fold, increase
as if there is
a deity who permitted
all of this
as if all of us
in our cells
in our incurious march toward end are forever atoning, if small
does that mean I shouldn’t
taffeta a skirt
cinch it round my hips
tree my strands of hair to the ground
in a single, benevolent braid?
all I know is
all I do not know
can that be enough?
can dry land arrive and we’ll decree to speak its blessing, too?
sinkholes of carbon and humans are seven-tenths H2O
insects instead of angels dancing on the head of
the many who were
the many who are always on the way to or from
the one
flatten fold release
The public domain photograph above was taken by Erčo.
Interests: Reading, writing, not arithmetic. The art and craft of poetry. Photography. Vegetable and flower gardening especially heirloom bulbs and dahlias. Movies in real theatres. Theatre on real stages. Art in real galleries. Crossword puzzles and, of course, Wordle. Singer-songwriters like Aimee Mann and Patti Griffin. All kinds of music especially 1930s jazz. Venice, Italy! The Dude abides.
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