Do you know the scent of ice?
Ice can borrow any color —
why insist on grey?
Skinning the pond, can this ice carry
more than a sparrow’s weight?
Have you ever heard how
ice might moan at night?
Ice is not a cause of burns —
why use it when you build my pyre?
Ice (4) by Gerhard Richter
A question poem for hedge 55.
—
December 15, 2017
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Good one!
deep and nice.
Having lived “in the land of the ice and the snow” as Led Zeppelin so aptly put it, I can tell you that you nailed the ice experience. Now how about heat and snow, Björn? Brrr!
I can’t say that I have experienced much ice anywhere except in my freezer and a tiny morsel of frost on the grass, midwinter. Thanks for enlightening me on its marvels.
I’m pretty sure ice is a woman. But it sounds like it’s thin ice, easy to break through with a little heat — thus the line break after “how.”
The more I read this, the more I love it. Excellent work.
The last line explains everything!
Really excellent short sharp phrases in this Bjorn, which bring both winters–of the earth and of the heart–alive. Asking questions in poetry can seem precious–here it just seems natural, fierce and real. Thanks for adding to the 55 table this week, and may your weekend, and your holidays be kickass.
I was really inspired in doing questions after being made aware of Pablo Neruda’s book of questions.
….why insist on grey, indeed….
Love this! Two stanzas/questions leapt out at me: “Ice can borrow any color —
why insist on grey?” …
“Ice is not a cause of burns —
why use it when you build my pyre?”
And lovely how you skate between actual ice and metaphorical ice.
I like what lies below the ice here. It feels like a relationship has been on thin ice, but an iceberg’s thickness separates the protagonist and the person they are questioning.
Intriguing in all sorts of ways.