Poem Corner
There is a verse for everyone in poetry. Whether it’s a free verse or prose, poetry allows us to look through another’s perspective through their strung together cohesion of words and interpret it differently depending on both the subject matter and who we are as people. For the poets themselves, their words can function as an extension of their experiences and thoughts in how they journal it onto paper. Distraction’s newfound Poetry Corner hopes to facilitate the spotlight for local writers here at the U and explain the meaning and intent behind each highlighted piece.
Lilies
I never knew silence could cut
like a knife, until this evening
on a limestone rink — where a bed of ravens
dance in lacy dress
and throw their collars to the sea.
You are still as a stone,
and your eyes cast away
to the mangroves — you are
over walls and bridges,
out where the gulls have flown.
You are unfeeling, molded of ashen
coral and fossilized fabric.
You turn your head only to keep
the birds from picking your flesh,
and wear a suit of black as
proof of phony kinship; you
catch the technicolor songs
in your dreary eye and
swallow them like pills.
I want to chase a firefly
or drum our feet on ancient reef; but
my dress has snagged on
your hung neck,
and you are tired,
so I will perch on a fountain of lilies
and watch the minnows waltz instead.
Behind the Verse
A conversation with the author, Saidy Burch
Q: What initially drew you to the writing scene as a poet?
A: I’ve always loved writing but didn’t start writing poetry until my freshman year of college as part of a creative writing class. I remember dreading our first poetry assignment — not because I didn’t like poetry, but because I was intimidated by it. But as I began writing my first poems, I fell in love with the genre and its capability for hyper-vividity and sensory vibrance. Writing poetry feels akin to painting.
Q: What is poetry to you/who do you say you write for?
A: Poetry is a highly versatile art form. For me, it’s primarily a way to express and communicate emotion. It’s collage-esque like a mosaic; you’re tasked with picking and arranging images on a two-dimensional plane in an attempt to flower something out of the reader or out of yourself. Poetry is fascinating to me because it challenges writers to see beyond face-value of image and intertwine abstract ideas with the concrete.
Some images are quite bold in their tonal effect. There is no denying, for example, the mystique that hangs around the image of a black cat — although even then, there is potential for morphing by the writer. Others are more malleable, inviting writers to shape them like clay into an object possessed by feeling. Take sunlight: is it a veil of honey or a burning rod against your skin?
Q: How do you draw inspiration from everyday mundanity into the artistic abstract wonders of writing? Do you have any personal things you do to take note of all of them?
A: I believe there is beauty to be found everywhere. We live in a brilliant, intelligently-designed world brimming with life and art in all spaces — in clouds, lizards, people’s voices, old chalkboards — all carrying with them their own beautiful stories, geometries, places in memories. If you know me personally, you know I am constantly getting distracted by little things — the way paint has stained a glass jar, how rain collects in asphalt gaps on the road —and taking pictures of them or writing little notes of myself so I remember the image.
Q: A line that travels with you throughout your day after you’ve read something is no easy feat — what line from your poem resonates with you the most?
A: I’m not sure why, but the phrase “you are over walls and bridges, out where the gulls have flown” seems to meander through my head quite often.
Q: Could you give a brief elaboration on the context behind “Lilies?” Even why you chose to focus on the certain details you did, like the ocean, fabric and mostly creatures of flight.
A: “Lilies” is about a high school formal dance I attended. I’ll leave the details of what exactly occurred that night up to your interpretation, but most of the images come from my observations from where I stood during the dance. The dance was outdoors on a courtyard of fossilized coral. I remember sitting for a while on the edge of a fountain whose water no longer ran, watching tiny fish dot around lily-pads. Over the heads of all the other girls in lacy black dresses, I could see a black ocean and a border of mangroves.
Q: Are there any other meaningful aspects of your piece that you would like to point out?
[Saidy]: Don’t try to swallow songs like pills. I don’t think it tends to go over very well.
Author’s Poem Rec.
“I’ll recommend “La Cachiporrista” by Alexandra Lytton Regalado — such brilliant imagery.” – Saidy Burch, Poet
words&illustration_saidy burch. design_julia gomez. coordination_nicole vedder.
This article was published in Distraction’s Winter 2023 print issue.
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