{"id":3967,"date":"2017-09-29T14:03:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-29T21:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3967"},"modified":"2018-10-08T20:22:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T03:22:30","slug":"sad-to-be-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/GXL\/?p=3967","title":{"rendered":"Sad to be a Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hot off the presses, this poem which appears in <\/em>California Quarterly, Vol 43, Number 3 (2017), p. 45. <\/em><\/p>\n

You can order a copy at <\/em>www.CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Sad to be a child.
\nHowever hard one watches,
\nbranches never grasp the clouds,<\/p>\n

stuff which drifts like moods
\nand slips between the crotches.
\nSad to be a child<\/p>\n

whose play becomes to brood
\nwithin a brushwood fortress
\nwhere branches never grasp the clouds,<\/p>\n

whims are driven as if scuds
\nand wishes come in snatches.
\nSad to be a child<\/p>\n

in a copse where dream eludes
\nthe anxious reach that clutches.
\nBranches never grasp the clouds<\/p>\n

just encompass solitude
\nuntil someone approaches.
\nSad to be a child.
\nBranches never grasp the clouds.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

Notionally a French poetic form, the villanelle<\/a> has been thoroughly nativized into English. Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”, Theodore Roethke’s “The Waking” and Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art” are among the best known and loved.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hot off the presses, this poem which appears in California Quarterly, Vol 43, Number 3 (2017), p. 45. You can order a copy at www.CaliforniaStatePoetrySociety.org * Sad to be a child. However hard one watches, branches never grasp the clouds, stuff which drifts like moods and slips between the crotches. Sad to be a child … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Sad to be a Child”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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