A Shaman on 5th Street

I'll be chewing on this all day. Thanks, William--s6

Oh I love this!
sacrificial leg of lamb made me laugh.
and I'm quite sure I know which "certain" shoe.

fantastic read!

As usual, William, you leave me pensive—particularly over "possessed
of the soul of a lungfish, who with a sacrifical
leg of lamb struck dead his only son."

The subtlety of meaning inherent in your use of "sacrifical" really stands out for me.

Thank you for another amazing poem.

Yes. I forgot to mention lungfish.

all the lovely little clues. This is so great.

Stew21 said:

Yes. I forgot to mention lungfish.

all the lovely little clues. This is so great.

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I know, right? The imagery is astounding there. What would the soul of a primitive living fossil be like? For me, it would be soulless, which is borne out by the action which follows.

I know my saying "subtlety" and "really stands out" in my previous comment doesn't make a lick of sense, but William understands me.

I assumed the lungfish was for "jesus fish"

the sacrificial leg of lamb: a call to "sacrificial lamb".



the birds and the lungfish together would be trinity.

the shoes must be sandals.

Sacrificial leg of lamb made me think of Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter - she used a frozen leg of lamb (that was cooked and eaten later) to kill her husband.
Sacrificial leg of lamb - body of Christ - it bounced around my head as funny.

Regarding the birds - anything I would say would be pure SWAG. I'm thinking ascension and wings partially, but sure I'm missing something.

(my edit post function isn't working very well - seems to be timing out on me - sorry for so many posts in a row).

In general, I love the idea of this outrageous story that was plucked out of the air and then "cradled in the arms of a dying storm."
The second stanza is a blast, which is why I focused so many of my comments there.

I really adore the skepticism in the final stanza though.

A biting commentary, to be sure.



The final one is just brilliant.

Well I'm not ashamed to say, I didn't understand it all, but that's ok, I really enjoyed it anyway and will have fun working it out.

Steppe said:

Well I'm not ashamed to say, I didn't understand it all, but that's ok, I really enjoyed it anyway and will have fun working it out.

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After reading Stew's comments, I'm pretty sure I got left in the dust. heh All I know is, the poetry I read here on AW often activates some sort of seismic upheaval in my brainpan and sends me stumbling in a wilderness of symbolism and imagery. I am, in fact, rather a dimwit when it comes to poetry, but I love it so.

Ari Meermans said:

After reading Stew's comments, I'm pretty sure I got left in the dust. heh All I know is, the poetry I read here on AW often activates some sort of seismic upheaval in my brainpan and sends me stumbling in a wilderness of symbolism and imagery. I am, in fact, rather a dimwit when it comes to poetry, but I love it so.

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There are absolutely no dimwits wrt reading and enjoying poetry.

Really. If you enjoy reading it, if you find it moving are interesting or even enjoyably perplexing, you've moved way out of dimwit territory.

I admit I had to google lungfish. Not exactly living in a maritime environment. I had it mixed up with a blobfish because I saw something about a blobfish on Jeopardy. Blobfish just look soul- less. Lungfish makes me think of the pair of ragged claws scuttling at the bottom of a silent sea that J. Alfred Prufrock was whining about. Still chewing on this --s6

I certainly never intended to make anyone feel like a dimwit.
Of course Lisa and William are absolutely correct.

Also, don't assume I'm right about anything. I've been gone a while. ☺

You didn't, you gave me more and different ways to see it.

I appreciate everyone's comments, but it was an honest assessment—and I'm not at all ashamed to own this brainpan, for the record.

Stew21 said:

Also, don't assume I'm right about anything. I've been gone a while. ☺

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You didn't do anything wrong, and you're back and not allowed leave.

AW Admin said:

You didn't do anything wrong, and you're back and not allowed leave.

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Abso-freakin'-lutely! And if you even try to leave—well, you know me, I'll hunt. you. down.

Discussion is what poetry is all about. So much more exciting than prose because a poem … well, a poem should be palpable but mute, like a blobfish! (Sorry, Archibald) The readers touch the poem, fondle it, but it is mute as to its meaning because each reader finds a meaning, without being told. --s6

I also thought of Lamb to the Slaughter, but some parts of this poem allude me.

As Ari said, sometimes it's just nice to get lost in the symbols and imagery.



I'll be chewing on this and coming back to it to re-read tomorrow.

I like it-- a lot. I just want to REALLY think about it.

Yes! Agree with the lovely depth & wetness of this poetic pond - also very lyrical, so thanks!

The opening stanza to this is just gorgeous. Running out of storyleaves as the storm stops buffeting the tree is a very poignant idea.

And like everyone, I'm hooked by the second stanza and the bludgeoning two-party bird-in-charge. "The soul of a lungfish" makes me think this god is something that really is desperate to evolve, to survive and continue. The lungfish seems the very template of transformation and staying power. And I'm with Trish on the Dahl story coming straight to mind.

Perhaps it says a lot of where my head is these days, but I see politics and, if not religion out right, then at least manipulation through stories.

This is wonderful. And hi.

I like the idea that the commentary moves to politics, Jamie. And naturally, in our current climate, they've meshed in some ways. and perhaps one of the birds is an eagle.

Fun to guess at it.