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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CONTRA MORTEM: THE BEING AS VISION by HAYDEN CARRUTH

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: THE MINDSEYE IS FLITTING LIKE A MOTH AMONG SUMMER FIRS
Last Line: BURNS BURNS FOR A DAZZLING INSTANT AND THEN TURNS BLANK
Subject(s): TIME;

The mindseye is flitting like a moth among summer firs
the palewhite slowfast moth that threads the burning
pillars of the hidden sun and fares
tricklingly over the ferny
firesplashes of the forest bed among whorls
of misty gold rising in aureoles
under the branches There the veeries
whistle the variations of a curious
doubling echoing note and the ovenbirds
shriek surprising hallelujahs
in unseen transepts There the filigree ferns
the moccasin flowers the great trees
and the palewhite moth are a lucency in the semidusk
of causeless light until through a gap the source
burns burns for a dazzling instant and then turns blank.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



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