Wednesday, July 26, 2006

returner

the trees,

like soldiers,
bank the green river
as she silks through their roots.

13 comments:

B Boutwell said...

I want to like this but the usage of "silks" is eluding me.

katy said...

silks: the caress of a smooth soft silky texture. reminiscent of 'slinks', but with a more noble, less mischievous intonation/resonance

no?

B Boutwell said...

Dictionary.com:

silk Audio pronunciation of "silks" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (slk)
n.

1.
1. A fine lustrous fiber composed mainly of fibroin and produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons, especially the strong, elastic, fibrous secretion of silkworms used to make thread and fabric.
2. Thread or fabric made from this fiber.
3. A garment made from this fabric.
2. silks The brightly colored identifying garments of a jockey or harness driver.
3. A silky filamentous material, such as the webbing spun by certain spiders or the styles forming a tuft on an ear of corn.


adj.

Composed of or similar to the fiber or the fabric silk.


intr.v. silked, silk·ing, silks

To develop silk. Used of corn.

B Boutwell said...

silks

n : the brightly colored garments of a jockey; emblematic of the stable

B Boutwell said...

Your call. ;)

I still like the trees as soldiers by the [green] river bank.

I guess I could ask: why are the trees like soliders "as" she silks through their roots?

katy said...

silk-s as in to silk, as in a verb, as in i made it up.

and am totally not in the zone for defending my making up of words today. i will try harder tomorrow.

Crunchy Weta said...

Hey I got the verbage of silks straight away and loved it ! I could just feel the texture around the roots. Also it resonated to me with silt (which would also feel silky) I really liked that line so much! I also liked the feminisation of the river.

Mark Prime (tpm/Confession Zero) said...

brian,
Ass- 1. an animal resembling a small horse with long ears, sometimes used as a beast of burden. The donkey is a domesticated descendant of the wild ass. Genus: Equus

2.an offensive term for somebody regarded as unintelligent, thoughtless, or ridiculous; see BRIAN BOUTWELL

B Boutwell said...

That, I find amusing. Katy knows I'm not being an ass.

Cecilia said...

This reminds me of the story of how Mary Magdalene washed the feet of Jesus using her long, silky smooth hair....

...the effortless glide of water around the roots...

katy said...

now now mark. comments on my blog are for criticizing me, not my readers. if you read through most of the poems in the month of, what was it brian? february i think, then mark, you'll see much more dialogue of this nature between brian and i. he's welcome (and invited, as you all are) to question my word choice, to make me defend it and make myself clear to everyone (well, try to at least). poets need challenging readers and visa versa. if everyone loves every word of every poem i wrote, then why am i not printed in every magazine. why do i not have a copy of my poetry in book form on everyone's coffee table?

on the other hand, thanks for the defense, mark. and glenn, too, for catching the verbage ;)

cecilia, as always, bringing your uniquely beautiful prism to the light.

ah, am also glad that you, glenn, liked the feminization of the river. the green river (woman) is a character in my collection called PoemTree (out of print). it's the annual twin peaks fest this weekend coming up and am 100% unhappy about not being there. unfortunately, i was not allowed the time off work and the husbee and i couldn't afford to take a week-long holiday this summer. *sigh*
so i am missing the green river this year. missing her very very much.

Crunchy Weta said...

I am such a David Lynch fan.. I presume the Twin Peaks festival has something to do with him?
I guess onee reason you're not on everyones table is that you are out of print!! LOL
I was impressed by Cecilias thoughts on this poem too.
Cheers
Glenn

katy said...

twin peaks (as in the tv show david lynch created) ah yes... glenn, i shall email you and dwell on how i'm not there right now.

at least, can i just... at least neither will jennifer lynch, who was there both times i was. our first together, our second together, and we're missing our third together. so it's not so so bad... i'll get to meet little mike in october too, which helps...

right i'll email you ^__^