Versecraft

"Shiversong" by George David Clark


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Topics discussed in this episode include:

-RIP N. Scott Momaday

-Gather ye old buds while ye may

-32 Poems

-David's new collection, Newly Not Eternal

-"Iscariot's Psalm" by George David Clark

-Read the earlier version of "Shiversong" here

-The 'ol feminine-acephalous combo (we need a real name for this)

-Not rhythmic, but METRICAL modulation

-"The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens

-Job 38

-Lear 4:1

-"The Need Of Being Versed In Country Things" by Robert Frost

-"Boy At The Window" by Richard Wilbur

-The Agony In The Garden

-"My Prime Of Youth Is But A Frost Of Cares" by Chidiock Tichborne

-"Oh no! The rancor!" 

-Words are straw, and the poem is a scarecrow

 

Text of poem:

 
Shiversong


Given snow

That doesn’t flinch

To throw its pounds

Through heaven inch

By inch, that sows

A billion motes

Of chill into

This ground man can’t

Defend; and given

Wind that won’t

Begin to tell

Us how it’s driven,

Where it fell from,

What it’s meant

To blow and which

Proud limbs the clouds

Want riven since

It doesn’t dimly

Know, or even

Why the howling

Whims have pardoned

Us thus far;

Given such,

It’s hard to watch

The black-eyed scarecrow

Some fool left here

Miming care

Above the blighted

Garden, though

Tonight he seems

Intent to wrack

The soil and climb

The air, to fly,

To crash his flimsy

Cross against

The deadpan rancor

In the vast

Grim sky. 


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My favorite poetry podcasts for:
Sharp thoughts and cutting truths (Matthew): Sleerickets
Lovely introspection and sensitive reflection (Alice): Poetry Says
The landscape of Ohioan poetry (Jeremy): Poetry Spotlight

Supported in part by The Ohio Poetry Association
Art by David Anthony Klug

List of the most common metrical feet:
Iamb: weak-STRONG (u /)
Trochee: STRONG-weak (/ u)
Anapest: weak-weak-STRONG (u u /)
Amphibrach: weak-STRONG-weak (u / u)
Dactyl: STRONG-weak-weak (/ u u)
Cretic: STRONG-weak-STRONG (/ u /)
Pyrrhic: weak-weak (u u)
Spondee: STRONG-STRONG (/ /)

...more
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VersecraftBy Elijah Perseus Blumov

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