Shade, 2008
- Shade, 2008
Dublin Core
Title
Shade, 2008
Subject
Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898
Description
Poem by Lindsay Nelson. 3 pages including artist's statement.
Creator
Nelson, Lindsay
Source
Box 4, Folder 13
Publisher
[host] University of Southern California. Libraries
Date
2008
Rights
Special Collections, Libraries, University of Southern California
Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Relation
[collection] G. Edward Cassady, M.D. and Margaret Elizabeth Cassady, R.N. Lewis Carroll Collection
Format
poems
Language
eng
Type
text
Document Item Type Metadata
Text
Shade
On a horizon
almost unmarked by shadows
or shapes
float ghosts of poems recited
tea-times planned for
knees scuffed
and flowers plucked
the wind that carries them
full of unnatural smells.
Only a solitary tree-shadow
breaks the line between earth
and sky
beneath it
shapes in the brown
hint at the folds of a dress
the tiny fingers of a hand
clutching grass
that was once green
under a sky once blue
hint at the light weight
of a black-strapped shoe
the curve of a leg, even
a cascade of hair.
It is a twisted octopus, this tree
a black stick figure
fleshless and waterless
but flickering faintly over black-bleached bone
a memory of leaves
and blossoms
hovers like heat.
They still call it Alice’s Tree,
though no one remembers why
yet the black husk provides shade
for a fallen ribbon
stained and crumbling
in the dirt
and for the marks in the grass
the imprint
that calls to mind
a dreaming child.
On a horizon
almost unmarked by shadows
or shapes
float ghosts of poems recited
tea-times planned for
knees scuffed
and flowers plucked
the wind that carries them
full of unnatural smells.
Only a solitary tree-shadow
breaks the line between earth
and sky
beneath it
shapes in the brown
hint at the folds of a dress
the tiny fingers of a hand
clutching grass
that was once green
under a sky once blue
hint at the light weight
of a black-strapped shoe
the curve of a leg, even
a cascade of hair.
It is a twisted octopus, this tree
a black stick figure
fleshless and waterless
but flickering faintly over black-bleached bone
a memory of leaves
and blossoms
hovers like heat.
They still call it Alice’s Tree,
though no one remembers why
yet the black husk provides shade
for a fallen ribbon
stained and crumbling
in the dirt
and for the marks in the grass
the imprint
that calls to mind
a dreaming child.
Original Format
poems
Collection
Citation
Nelson, Lindsay, "Shade, 2008," in USC Libraries Exhibitions, Item #19, http://omeka.usclibraries.com/exhibits/show/wonderland/main/item/19 (accessed February 5, 2012).