August 26, 2003
Reading Dave Rogers post about evil, love, and fear prompted me to unearth the following poem, based on a true happening. Unearthing the poem has prompted me to plan to do an Open Mike poetry reading this Monday night. It's something I've been thinking about doing. This time I'm letting the fear go.
Hunting
On the rise beyond the stream
on Trout Mountain,
they say, he shot himself—
a still-young man
despaired of a world
too full of fear.
On the west wall of his cabin,
hang the antlers he tore
from some fair game,
banging the nails bent
through the thick bone
of clumsily shattered skull.
In the shifting summer light,
their shadows writhe
in fearsome memory.
(They say he loved the land,
the hunt, the kill.)
Some think the land is haunted, now.
They say they can feel the fear
in the heavy mountain mist,
hear it in the hollow scrape
of bone on stone.
(They say what he feared
he loved too much.)
When the land was finally sold
(to someone starkly purged
of love and fear),
the new owner found a photo
face-down on a dusty shelf –
a stiff-faced young man
in an unforgiving setting,
sternly victorious over
some finally fearless prey.
And so I ask for the antlers,
chipped and weathered, now --
artifacts made unworthy
of either fear or love.
Is the answer hidden somewhere
in the pits of those old bones?
If I scrub them clean, soften the scars,
set them like icons on an altar
ringed with strings of stones,
will I dream one night
of some daring beast
who lifts me gently
on his gleaming horns
and shows me
the unspeakable secret?
(copyright Elaine Frankonis)
Trackbacks (1)
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The Hunter, or the Hunted? on 27 Aug 2003
Deeply touching. Frighteningly close to home in some deep internal ways. Do go read, Elaine. Go.
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Old Comments (4)
deddette on 26 Aug 2003
Gorgeous, Elaine.
++
Lindsay on 27 Aug 2003
Beautiful.
myrln on 27 Aug 2003
You have the makings of a terrific story or book here. Consider it.
Elaine on 27 Aug 2003
Yeah, but see, that's the problem. I can take a long, complicated story and carve it into a poem, but I've never been able to sustain writing a long prose piece. You're right, though. If I ever give it a shot, the story surrounding the writing of this poem would be a great place to start. Thanks.