Entanglement
The air is breathing softly,
and I hear last night’s rain falling
through the trees.
An umbrella sky. It
stands as tall as sunflowers.
And sunshine,
so I hang out the bedlinen and
white cottons to dry on the line.
A small miscalculation.
A bird has flown into the clothesline.
Don’t we all make them.
Our direction. Lost.
The needle falls off our compass.
Though not like rain,
always there in the background.
Pointing down.
The best part of being lost
is not knowing that you’re lost.
Like clouds.
Rudderless as Wordsworth.
this bird is lost.
The bird and I,
tangled in sunshine and laundry.
This is a contrapuntal poem, where two lines of thought (or observations, or music, or two poems) are woven together. dVerse Poets explored this technique in 2018, and more information on contrapuntal poetry is available at MasterClasses. ©Misky 2022 Shared with #amwriting on Twitter
It's Still Life 
10 responses to “27 May: A Contrapuntal Poem”
Ooooh! I love this!! It’s totally fascinating!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hung out our bedclothes earlier. No tangled bird, but there were plenty singing! I love The thought of being tangled in sunshine and laundry.
LikeLike
My first encounter with this type of poem. Refreshing verse. I
LikeLike
Loved the poem. I see you tagged ”Masterclasses”. I’ve been considering joining one or two and this has inspired me to go ahead. It’s certainly affordable!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some of the Masterclasses are free, too!
LikeLike
Oh ja? I’ll investigate.
LikeLike
What’s the difference between a contrapuntal poem and a cleave poem?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jane Dougherty describes it as “ a cleave poem is three in one: left side says one thing, right side says its opposite. Read together they make a third poem. An example is at https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/2019/10/11/silence-broken/
A contrapuntal poem interweaves two pieces (literature or music) with a counter point between them, not quite opposites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve read her cleave poems and indeed is why I asked as the two forms seemed a similar concept. Thanks!
LikeLike