Thread: black & white

black & white: a poem from nature

on final snow-blanket day
we walk the bicycle path
flat asphalt already bare
except in the shady corner
where stubborn white soles
compacted by boots
maintain ghostly cris-cross

beside the common way
trod into softer soil
footprints melt out black

Sensitive descriptions with a poetic voice give the piece a mystical yet authentic feel. I enjoyed the scene but I couldn't hit on any deeper meaning other than pure observations with some mild characteristics. I believe a poem from nature would neither suggest more than that.

I like it, I feel a sense of almost waking up, or returning from a sombre state- the use of 'ghostly' gives it a very atmospheric feel, as though the death of winter is about to be reversed just as the protagonist is about to awake from their own gloomy state. It's quite hopeful in a way.

I sort of agree with you Martin, that the deeper meaning isn't very explicit. It's just like when you step on something hard a different thing happens then when you step on something soft. In the field, both of us walking found thet very portant, and I wanted to save it. Walking on it, it just seemed like a poem. I played around with tying the metaphor to something specific but didn't like anything. So it's short and sweet. Koanish, maybe. In the end, decided I liked that. Or couldn't do better. Not much of a poet really.

Thanks to both for commenting.