.

Beyond the Shadows 

The light from above may be blinding
And cause us to shelter our eyes,
But promises God makes are binding,
For laggards as well as the wise.

At last we get used to the brightness,
Descrying a path up ahead
That leads to a place where uptightness
And troubles are soon put to bed.

But those who remain in the shadow
Discover they can’t see at all
And never traverse that fair meadow
On bright balmy days in the fall.

.

.

Limitations

One’s selfhood in an ordered herd
____is meaningless,
And pinions on a flightless bird
____are only dress,

Since neither is a useful tool
____to aid escape.
Things lacking purpose, as a rule,
____don’t form the shape

Of what’s to come.  But there is hope
____for charity
From those with faith enough to grope
____for clarity.

.

.

The Unreliability of Common Sense

A man who’s rational believes
____in natural law,
Which doesn’t mean he only cleaves
____to tooth and claw

When making sense of what’s around
____him.  There’s a place
For mercy on the shifting ground
____the human race

Now occupies.  It’s also true
____that letting go
Of notions no one ever knew
____for sure goes slow.

.

.

Doldrums

I still remember that exquisite day
In autumn when our destinations seemed
To be within the compass of our hands,
But now our landing place looks far away
And so unlike the fields of which we dreamed.
Familiar territory, foreign lands,

And fantasies like nothing on this earth
Are blent together in our driftwood brains,
A congeries of seashells tossed aside
By mollusk-eating predators whose worth
Is measured when these hollowed-out remains
Are washed ashore by an impartial tide.

Part land, part ocean, harbors are the first
Resort of floaters drifting in the lee
Of tropic islands neither here nor there,
But briny water never slakes the thirst
Of fogbow-chasing yachtsmen:  Lost at sea,
We cast our fraying lines into the air.

.

.

C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden.  Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Australia and India.  His collection, Mortal Soup and the Blue Yonder was published in 2013 by White Violet Press.

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14 Responses

  1. Brian A. Yapko

    These four poems are incredible, C.B. Both alexandroids on diverse subjects compact a great deal of meaning into so few words, though I’m partial to your “Common Sense” and that “place for mercy.”

    “Beyond the Shadow” is haunting in its depiction of those who can see and those who remain in shadow. I particularly like your rhyme of “brightness” and “uptightness” which gave a nice twinkle to the subject. Would this meter be considered anapestic trimeter? Overall I scan an iamb and two anapests which gives the poem a nice driving force.

    Of the four, my favorite by far is “Doldrums” which addresses topics like life. death, disappointment and hope through an elaborately detailed and extended nautical metaphor from the compass to the the driftwood brains through to the idea of being lost at sea and casting “our fraying lines into the air.” The image of chasing that fog-bow is stunning. This is enormously powerful and appealing poetry.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      You are very generous, Brian.

      The meter in “Beyond the Shadows” is just as you say, and I conceptualize it as basically anapestic, though semi-headless.

      The thing about fogbows is that they are atmospheric optical effects, just like rainbows, except that only a mariner would likely be chasing one. If you google “fogbow images” you will see some amazing things.

      Reply
  2. Julian D. Woodruff

    CB, I think I agree with Brian about the last offering the most food for thought. “In autumn” (past) , its 2nd line passively proclaims a winter, not one that we experience as harsh weather, but of confusion, where the products of fantasies are not really our own but of our assorted demons, and we ascribe them (demons) value rather than ourselves.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      I don’t know about demons, Julian, but any examined life will likely show moments when things are not quite what they seem to be, or where uncertainty is paramount. Yet still we like to get out on the water whence we arose.

      Reply
  3. Anna J. Arredondo

    Hey, C.B. I really like these. Just wanted to say that I like them, though I don’t care to try to articulate why.

    Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi

    I go along with Brian and Julian — “Doldrums” is the best of the three, and the most powerful. The ABCABC sestets work perfectly, and the entire poem coheres like well-woven linen.

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson

      You give me linen Joseph, though I was hoping for silk, but I will take it anyway. And I heartily agree that coherence is the most important element of any good poem.

      Reply
  5. James A. Tweedie

    Thoughtful, witty, pointed, well-crafted metaphysical riffs on life and faith and man and God. All and each of which are not-small topics which you have so neatly framed in verse.

    Along with everyone else I am most drawn to and impressed by the stream of consciousness rambling word pictures of Doldrums. “Blent,” “driftwood brains,” “compass of our hands,” congeries of seashells,” and “fogbow-chasing yachtsmen” are each more than worth the price of admission!

    Reply
  6. C.B. Anderson

    If I haven’t said it before, James, I’ll say it now: Your approval always makes my day. Though I may be less orthodox than you, I think we share a general common faith. And lucky for everyone, admission is free.

    Reply
  7. Bruce Phenix

    I enjoyed all these thoughtful, skilful and economically expressed poems. I especially appreciated the powerful imagery of “Doldrums” and the concentration of thought achieved in “Limitations”, with its neat rhymes, regular rhythm and terse lines alternating between longer and shorter.

    Reply
  8. Satyananda Sarangi

    Love this form “alexandroid”, and the love for the form grows when I read you masterfully penning alexandroids. I connected the most with “Doldrums”.

    Reply
  9. Hari Hyde

    These four eloquent poems on faith augment each entry so well, as though spoken through the four voices of a string quartet. “Beyond the Shadows” will stay with me. Mankind feels a little light will suffice, but God’s Light is blinding (a dazzling deliverance). My favorite lines — “Things lacking purpose, as a rule, / don’t form the shape / Of what’s to come.”

    Reply

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