muffle-toed in holy Mary's churchyard a nine nest rookery rocks queasily topping off the bare brazen beech congregants wend the wayward path below to the great carved door, bowed by wet west winds or a North-easterly that comes gusting round medieval mildewed stones biting through to all the human bones the grave-groping root-grubbing builders have done with twig and twine revivals cacophonous grumblings of whose is what and what is where, dark-vowelled now still as sylphs, the pair-bonds stand sentinel or sit before the births, bloody gash of gaping mouths plundering down to a white-faced hunger for worms and fledgling flesh lark-high in the belfry's humming hymnal the baked-earth chimney stacks, Jack black daws bicker and twitter in fast flowing flights of fancy on an adjacent thorn, a crow couple, flint-eyed and steely strop their beaks to a clean, fine edge dusk settles hush-hush on sloe-eyed April and two bell-voiced birds ascend to evensong in one long dust-tongued decaying duet
For further reading, here are the poetry sources for the title of this poem & six of Thomas’ word-compounds that I used:
a world of wings & cries ~ Being but Men
muffle-toed ~ After the funeral
grave-groping ~ The seed at zero
dark-vowelled ~ Especially when the October wind
lark-high ~ Into her lying down head
bell-voiced ~ Altar-wise by owl-light
dust-tongued ~ It is the sinner’s dust-tongued bell
I’m guest hosting this Tuesday Poetics and my challenge is to write a poem with at least four of the given word compounds that Dylan Thomas employs in his poetry. Join us in Love the Words
Oh what a wonderful atmosphere you give… the compound words and the assonans of the poem adds so much… those two crows in the tree, as well as the scenery of a leaf-less graveyard with words of bones and dust… love it.
thank you for your appreciative comment Bjorn – this was a scene that imprinted itself and then I had the chance to put it into the imagery of DT – no other would do
The gothic atmosphere in this is wonderful. You’ve worked the language through this so well.
many thanks for your feedback Carol – I aimed to evoke Dylan Thomas and Spring but the setting plus rooks strayed into Graveyard Poetry!
Nice sound throughout. I like the thought of that rookery rocking in the wind and evening’s decaying duet.
glad you picked up on the sounds Frank – they are the music of word that DT loved so much
Oh joy, we can create our DT-cloned poetics; what a fantastic prompt! Your poem illustrates your prompt with gusto and charm. It even feels like a poem of the past, something left on a Church posting in Milkwood. You had me at /plundering down to a white-faced hunger for worms and fledgling flesh/.
Can hear the joy of words from you Glenn – I have lived and breathed Milkwood. Glad you chose those particular lines as they slipped in without any effort – a gift from the old music master perhaps
I love this, Laura, from the title right to the final word! You’ve captured the rhythm of the wind in the line ‘a nine nest rookery rocks queasily’ and the alliteration makes it so rich. The scene is painted in such detail, with the ‘medieval mildewed stones’, root-grubbing builders’ ‘cacophonous grumblings of whose is what / and what is where’, the ‘Jack black daws bicker’(faint echoes of Under Milk Wood there!) and dusk settling ‘hush-hush on sloe-eyed April’. Delectable writing!
I can only say ‘thank-you’ Kim – a word compound that doubles up the gratitude!
I love the sounds of this–and there’s some humor, too, I think, as in “the grave-groping root-grubbing builders” with their “cacophonous grumblings.” I like the alliteration and the atmosphere you create.
rooks do amuse me so evidently the humour came through – have a penchant for alliteration so following in the footsteps here of Thomas gave vent to that
I would love to hear this read aloud. You’ve painted a world here.
I almost recorded it since it was supposed to be about sounds – but then each reader hears the words for themselves
Ah yes.
This was fun to read. My favorite phrases are: “Jack black daws bicker / and twitter in fast flowing flights of fancy.” Plus I love those last few lines.
thank you for your appreciation Linda
You might have gathered that I am a big fan of rooks. I love this portrait of them – the intelligence, the reputation of evil, the whole graveyard thing. So many great lines, and great use of those compound words. I LOVE THIS PROMPT!!!
I too am a rookophile – corvids in general – and thank you Sarah – your LOVE shines through your lines
I savored each line, each movements, until the beautiful duet in the end:
and two bell-voiced birds ascend to evensong
in one long dust-tongued
decaying
duet
Such a wonderful prompt – thank you for hosting Laura.
thank you for asking Grace – and for all your support
You have given us such a great example of how to use the Dylan words
thank you for that – I enjoyed my challenge once I got going – I hope you found it so
Most excellent.
thank you
ahhhhhh. the visuals so clear painting this haunting atmosphere.
and then the final duet. beautiful!
many thanks – glad you enjoyed
yes, i did. you’re welcome, Laura.
Really love this so picturesque of the birdlife!
this prompt was a good opportunity to paint with words 😉
indeed and it’s certainly opened new doors for me thanks Laura 🙂
I liked this one very much. The word compounds slip seamlessly into the lines without drawing attention to themselves. You’ve made them your own.
appreciate your comment Jane as had hoped not to over emphasise them even though I rarely use such illustrative words
You didn’t. To my taste, too many of us over-used them, sometimes where they muddled rather than created the right image.
I felt the tendency to throw in lots of ingredients and had to remind myself that the best soups are not minestrone 😉
Dustbin soup, my husband calls them 🙂 A poet knows when to stay her hand 🙂
The subject is perfectly rendered with your words…dark birds and churchyards, the silhouettes and sounds echoing against the sky. (K)
thank you K – I like the end rhyme of birds and churchyards
Difficult to pick out the excellent lines of this but
‘plundering down to a white-faced hunger
for worms and fledgling flesh’
grabbed me the most.
Great work.
thanks Shirley – that one came out of the blue as it were
This is wonderful Laura, and I love the scene you’ve painted withyour words. Some great Thomas-like compounds as well! Haunting photo.. 🙂
thank you – aimed to emulate the Welsh bard and slip his own word compounds alongside mine seamlessly 😉
Yes, a recording would be fun for this fantastic piece.
this style is certainly made for voices but so often I do not enjoy the writers readings including Thomas and Eliot
A sumptuous feast of gothic imagery and alluring alliteration. I imagine Dylan Thomas would be proud! 🙂
Thank you Frank for such uplifting feedback
My pleasure, Laura! 😇