Apricot Wood
I built a frame of apricot
wood. This was for you. The clouds float
through it even as I sleep. You wrote
once of wild herbs gathered and brought
to a lovely girl, an offering not
of passion but of some remote
desire to hear a word from the throat
of the Lord Within Clouds. I thought
of this as I chiseled the wood.
Last night it rained. I listened to
it from my bed by the open
window, hoping that the clouds would
not leave. This morning two birds flew
by. It is raining again.
Originally penned in the 1980s, “Apricot Wood,” is included in my 2015 chapbook, If Your Matter Could Reform. It was first published in 1986, in SPSM&H, a publication devoted to sonnets, and was featured on Autumn Sky Poetry Daily in March 2015. It’s interesting to look at my writing from this period. Some pieces seem to have been written by a stranger, long ago and far, far away. This one somehow seems closer.
O at the Edges 
What a mysterious and mystical frame.
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Those empty spaces beg to be filled. 🙂
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The poem’s details foreground the hidden feelings behind the gift … something like that, anyway!
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Thanks, Dave. Something’s hidden behind the gift…
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Very nice reading! Wish I could sleep next to an open window … better yet, back to the days of sleeping on the 2nd-story screened porch at my great aunt’s house … up near live oaks leafy tops.
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It’s been a while for me, too, but maybe it’ll happen soon. 🙂
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It reminds me of William Carlos Williams and his red wheel barrel…but even better! Perfect and pure and real. Whew! HOW did u do this, these words, so simple yet breath taking? So much more than what is said? The sound of your voice is awesome. The very thought of apricots, tight and juicy but not so juicy they spill. Really like this one, sir Robert!
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Thanks, James. It’s an old one, but still seems to work.
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Robert, I think you mean it’s timeless. Not old. Rings true and is somehow a cut to the chase, refined to it’s essence. Love it.
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Funny you say this poem seems closer in time, Bob! I actually thought it was a relatively recent piece while reading. It’s timeless – yet retains a newness, the wonder and beauty of “you”.
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I was really into sonnets back then, and couldn’t resist trying to merge the form with my take on Chinese poetry.
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So interesting what you say about your past writing. I feel that way sometimes with stories I’ve written and stumble across years later. That said, your poems always leave me feeling wistful for things I cannot grasp. It’s a strange, yet satisfying feeling. Like it fills up some unseen space in my mind that feeds my own writing. Thanks!
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That’s all I could ever ask from my poetry! Thanks, Jilanne.
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You have a very calming and evocative voice really enjoyed it
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Thanks very much!
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😉
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