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Bohème
Opera in a bare and frigid room
As winter winds were sweeping, like a broom,
Raised an enthusiasm, understood
As contrast to the landscape. Every plume
Of horizontal snow blew toward the wood,
Lifting fine sparkling sprays across each flume.
Rodolfo, Mimi still awaited doom,
Different for each. A child, I saw a loom
Weave notes around them, showing all it could
Of love that, hopeless, still maintained its bloom.
We listened, shivering on stiff chairs of wood.
I still feel chilled when any opera tune
Pulls me from duties that I must resume
Catching my heart in beauty, in the gloom.
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Linden Blossoms
The tree was small when gaps in leaves withdrew
To generously allow the morning sun
To glance off curly maple. Red and blue
Brightened some paintings, finished, half begun.
And everything seemed subtle, spun on cue,
Coming together faceted and one.
Bach and the blossoms bonded as they flew,
Each flower taking color from a tone
Then fell past azure background, slipping through
Rough fingers into baskets, until done.
Sound, melting into yellow, had become
The color of a lawn where blossoms, strewn,
Filled a small space of fading afternoon,
And glowed like topaz jewels in claire de lune.
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Two Poetic Friends
When friends are poets too, and Heaven knows
Staunch in their efforts to sync with past time,
They’re equal in despair, like two fierce crows
That follow every wandering, thready line
Searching for sustenance. They must sustain
Those precious precepts both of them believe—
Through frost, through fire of sun, and ruinous rain.
Fast friends join in this task, which they’ll achieve.
But when they’re done, new bards forget foresight,
Ignore past work, dismiss this grand attempt
Bequeathed to them, begin anew to write,
To seek some order in a world unkempt.
We two friends move the clock’s hands in a pinch—
Expand our art a quarter of an inch.
all three are from Expansive Poetry Online
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Sally Cook is both a poet and a painter of magical realism. Her poems have also appeared in Blue Unicorn, First Things, Chronicles, The Formalist Portal, Light Quarterly, National Review, Pennsylvania Review, TRINACRIA, and other electronic and print journals. A six-time nominee for a Pushcart award, in 2007 Cook was featured poet in The Raintown Review. She has received several awards from the World Order of Narrative and Formalist Poets, and her Best American Poetry Challenge-winning poem “As the Underworld Turns” was published in Pool.
Welcome back, Sally. You have been missed. I trust your infirmities have been dismissed. Your love for opera, nature, classical music, and friends shines through with magic words laden with color filled images, wonderful rhymes, and sincere thoughts.
Dear Sally, I wish you all the best, and hope things are going just as well as possible for you. As one spring lyric reads,
The sick and weak, whom winter had laid low,
Rise up from bed in health again, and sprightly!
Your “Linden Blossoms” adds many colors to this, drawing them forth from music, as you do with your special sense of sight. That explains the notes you as a child see weaving round Rodolfo and Mimi in “Boheme,” showing how their hopeless love maintained its bloom. What a beautiful way to express hopeless, passionate freshness! I’m especially impressed by that opening quatorzain, which like the two others of the same length, could be seen as your kind of sonnets. Only “Two Poetic Friends” has the 8/6 division and a standard rhyme scheme. “Boheme” uses just two rhyme sounds, if we count “tune” with its “n” the practical equivalent of the words rhyming in long “u”, since “n” and “m” are nasal consonants. And the other vowel sound, the “oo” of “good,” is close though unlike. Enchanting music on sounds rather similar to those in “Linden Blossoms.” Indeed a “grand attempt” (and great accomplishment) providing “some order in a world unkempt.”
I hope you’ve found some respite, Sally. Your presence was missed. These are three beautiful poems you’ve made your comeback with. Bohème captures a child captivated by an operatic performance and this very child resurrecting in the grown-up person upon her hearing an opera tune. “Linden Blossoms” plays with sound and colour, blending them well, and maintains their harmony throughout the piece. I love the imagery of each flower taking colour from a tone as if expressing its own emotion. Likening the friends finding solace in each other in “Two Poetic Friends” with crows looking for sustenance is an idea well conceived. The concluding stanza presents reality in its crudest form. Take care.
Sally, your suggestion that a writer’s mission is to “seek some order in a world unkempt” is something that I must keep in mind no matter how humble my work. Thank you for that.
Sally, it is wonderful to see your poetry hear again after what seems like a very long time. I especially love your “Boheme” poem which reminds me of the way passionately sad opera can burrow right into your soul. The synesthesia in “Linden Blossoms” leads to all sorts of aural and visual delights. And your “Two Poetic Friends” carries much insight into the relationships we poets may share. I was particularly struck by the lines: “They’re equal in despair, like two fierce crows/That follow every wandering, thready line/
Searching for sustenance.”
Sally, I hope this is a renaissance of seeing much more of your amazing work here. All my best.
To all commenters —
I have just spoken with Sally Cook at the Rehab Center, and I have read to her all of the comments that you have posted here. She is deeply touched and moved by all of them, and she has asked me to express her thanks to all of you. She does not have access to a computer.
If anyone should wish to send a letter or note to Sally Cook, I am providing her address below.
Ms. Sally Cook (patient)
c/o Chautauqua Nursing and Rehab Center
10836 Temple Road
Dunkirk, New York 14048
Sally – I especially liked Two Poetic Friends, and its final line. To me it captures the feeling that when I’m working on something new, nothing from before matters much – we’ll be judged on each new piece of work as it stands, alone. Thanks for this!
It’s always a privilege and a treat to see a Sally Cook poem shine from the pages of the SCP, and these three exquisite delights have made my evening. “Two Poetic Friends” is my favorite of the three – I especially love the closing couplet. Thank you for all you are and all you do in the name of fine poetry.
“Linden Blossoms” is a wonderful smorgasbord for the senses. Not only do you paint a vivid picture with a wide palette, but you combine the visual and the auditory into an all-engrossing experience. Very engaging.
I’ve seen “La Boheme” probably 3 or 4 times, and your poem aptly captures the poignant climax and the impressions it made on you. Anyone who knows the opera can relate.
“Two Poetic Friends” is also relatable to fellow poets. I appreciate your sense of hope in spite of everything.