The end arrives without fanfare—no one
scatters ritual words to take back fate.
The dice are rolling, cards drawn—still no one
moves to rearrange the portents—too late
they fail to cohere, fail to integrate
the glimmer in the void with its descent,
the form with its reflected accident.
Maps destroy the future, erase the past
with tangled nows that keel, reorient–
in alloyed flames the dark remains, uncast.
They were born and taken back, surrounded
by places they could never occupy–
left far behind, callously abandoned,
imprisoned in locations without time–
endless words and rules warped to justify
exclusion—hope withholding tomorrow,
wheels turning over in endless sorrow,
a constant shifting into reversal–
running counterclockwise back to zero–
a journey of relentless rehearsal.
For dVerse open link night, hosted by Linda, two somewhat related dizain poems. Dizain is the poetic form for July, introduced to us by Rosemary. I found it a challenge, and have been worrying these words all week.
K. 
What you have written here is very true, Kerfe, and the empaths and compassionate people of the world will appreciate it’s deep meaning. For many though, these actions are self preservation and acts of personal survival (of a life style).
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That’s true Robbie. People are frightened, and that definitely colors how they see the world.
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powerful stuff and great use of the form…have to admit I’m struggling with it…finding it hard to make poetry within the constraints!
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Thanks. I like the challenge of forms, but some come easier than others.
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I’m reading them late at night but need to revisit them. They are saturated with meaning that I cannot fully absorb right now.
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I know that feeling…
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‘Maps destroy the future, erase the past
with tangled nows that keel, reorient–
in alloyed flames the dark remains, uncast.’ — love that phrase.
The first pondering makes me think of a great warship ploughing ahead regardless. The second captures a feeling I can only imagine, being shunted from pillar to post, shown, tempted, withheld, sent back to the place you want to be but have to leave.
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Thanks Jane. I think we are all heavy with the state of the world.
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Those who aren’t baffle me.
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That is so true, Kerfe, ‘The end arrives without fanfare’. I was gripped by these lines in the second poem:
‘imprisoned in locations without time–
endless words and rules warped to justify
exclusion…’
and
‘a constant shifting into reversal–
running counterclockwise back to zero–
a journey of relentless rehearsal’.
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Thanks Kim. The world is much with us, always, now.
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I liked what you said about the poems – you have been worrying these words all week. Not worrying about, worrying, like the proverbial dog with a bone. I think that describes the writing process quite often and I enjoyed that insight into your way of doing things.
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Thanks Claudia. Most of what I do is reworking ideas–I try to write something every day, and I look through my notebooks for things that might work with what I’m trying to do. That’s much like your process, no? I’m usually revising as I write the post too. Every time I look at the poem, I see something I could refine. At a certain point I need to let it go–which doesn’t mean I won’t revisit it later of course.
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Yes, I do the same thing, maintain notes and fragments and if desperate, cut something out of a book and get going on that. Crossword puzzle juxtapositions. TV dialogue. Yes, those words are everywhere, like papers for collage.
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I like the content of the void’s descent with reflected accident and the rhyme sounds that end these two lines:
“the glimmer in the void with its descent,
the form with its reflected accident.”
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Thanks Frank.
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This was a captivating read Kerfe, very engaging. Thank you for sharing it for OLN, Loved the collages?
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Thanks.
The top and bottom are part of the same collage. The black and white in the center is a Rorschach painting. Paint, fold and see what happens.
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“The end arrives without fanfare,” .. this is deeply chilling and true. One should always be prepared!
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Indeed! Thanks.
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The close-up of the collage is very prophetic. A fateful journey back to zero. Your words conjure up a tapestry of thoughts concerning aspects of life and death.
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Always more questions than answers. Thanks Olga.
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This is so brilliant. Especially the lines “journey of relentless rehearsal…” to always be looking for destiny, not living now, never being, always practicing. We shift and change so much, that is part of who we are, always becoming… but for moments we need to be still and to be, rest in the reality of the other, the world, the moment. Destiny is such a portentious word, full of promise and gravitas, but never present in the now or in the know. This is going up on the wall, it is its destiny.
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Thanks Lona, your words are so wise. We are always searching, seldom there.
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And one more thing…! because I am a windbag… How never living in teh now, tends to divide us, the plowing forward like Jane’s ship she talks about, breaks the waves, but never comprehends them. As we move and push forward with our Kampfe, our campaigns, our five year plans… how we end up divided into tribes making each other bleed for it.. how much better it is to just BE there with each other. We can always aim high, better to aim to be.
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I think your used of enjambment works brilliantly to counter the potential heaviness of rhyme (also I note the half-rhymes in the second piece). I tend to respond more to poems which engage heart rather than mind. These of course do both, and I enjoyed the intellectual appeal too (which leads to the emotional depth). I somewhat prefer the first, but then when I re-read the second…. Need I add, you have adhered perfectly to the form. Truly excellent work!
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Thanks Rosemary. Your response is just what I hope for–engaging both heart and mind.
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As we age and lose more people, as we stare at the news in disbelief, as nature’s upheavals throw our lives into confusion, and as the cosmos seems to tear – the depth of your observations here occur to me and probably all poets. The eternal questions rise before us..why at all? what does it mean? what use is it in the end? why this or that, why him or her, why me? And we know the odds of any given thing is close to zero and yet it seems so real, so permanent, so historical and at the same time illusive, vaporous and disappearing..counterclockwise and counterintuitive.
Great piece!
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Thanks so much Gay for your insightful words. Disbelief, every day.
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I so admire the dizain poems and the collage. The darkness in both poems is evident and reading from the news, this is something that I can’t believe that is happening in parts of our world – endless cycle of darkness.
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Thanks Grace. The darkness seems to be seeping in everywhere.
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