“Devolutions” from In an Ocean of Grass

The following is a poem written in mester de clerecia, or cuaderna via (the way of the four,) a style of poetry used by 13th century intellectuals of Castile. This style of poetry consists of four-line stanzas of alexandrines. A conventional alexandrine consists of rhymed verses of six iambic feet. A more detailed research indicates that an alexandrine has seven iambic feet. To split the difference I chose to create a work with eight syllabic measures in the line prior to a caesura, followed with six syllables to the end the line. “Devolutions” was inspired by an earlier poem of mine, “In an Ocean of Grass I,” & “In an Ocean of Grass II.”

Devolutions

In a skiff tethered gently to tall reeds & leathered sedge,
below the glowing Ibis wing just rising from the hedge,
I’m watching twisted beams descend in rosy sheets
across a sky piled high in clouds & crowned in feathered pleats.

Rainbows are dissolving in the rising mist of distant shores
& twilight is evolving through a purple rain that pours
high above the canopy & seeping through the leaves,
piercing wide the panoply & sloughing off the eaves.

Whispers of a sighing breeze are dying near Cape Sable Bay
where a blushing sun sets low, kissing horizons away &
while sketching the loss of a small devolving Cypress tree,
I’ve captured instead fragments of latent fragility.