Margaret Atwood

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Manna
Posts: 1998
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2007 6:51 am
Location: Where clouds go to die

Margaret Atwood

Post by Manna »

Variation on the Word Sleep


I would like to watch you sleeping.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun and three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
and that necessary
Diane

Re: Margaret Atwood

Post by Diane »

That's funny, a friend showed me that Atwood poem recently, Manna. I love it.
Cate
Posts: 3464
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:27 am

Re: Margaret Atwood

Post by Cate »

Hi Manna,

Thank you for posting this, it's fantastic!
I like how she uses repetition in the first stanza, it’s almost hypnotic, it kinda pulls you into the dream.
I love the three moons, the silver branch, the stairs the boat – I love everything, especially the last stanza.
I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
and that necessary
I want to be air too!
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