face placement off cadiz and pearl
face placement off cadiz and pearl
by oscar smiles
haybell colonnades
a book of matches shoots from the wrist
pumpkin patches and perennials
rubicon 4×4’s
a chance for stardom
and after all the laughter
i am stricken
by the sound of the hollowed sky
and a cavernous jaw heart
full of cavities
Before reading poem it’s often good to get a fair to midling feel for the title. ‘Face placement off Cadiz and pearl’…hmm–found this on Cadiz: “Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Cadiz Province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cadiz, the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula and possibly of all southwestern Europe,[1] has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. It is also the site of the University of Cádiz.
Despite its unique site — on a narrow spit of land surrounded by the sea — Cadiz is, in most respects, a typically Andalusian city with a wealth of attractive vistas and well-preserved historical landmarks.” [Wikipedia]
umm. I like having this info in my head when reading main body of poem so my mind may make imaginative connections thru a loose context.
2 stanzas 5 lines a piece. I’m conjecturing the poet may have visited Cadiz or read about it and the poem is the creative rehash of itinerary in that experience. Or perhaps it’s nothing.
In any case, there is a lot of action and energy taking place here. ‘a book of matches shoot’ and ‘Rubicon 4×4’s’ [an off-road jeep?] bring to mind the harnessing of fire [passion] and the pioneering taming of the earth [4×4 adventure], though Rubicon is named after a river in Italy which during Roman times was considered quite a feat to swim across it. Caesar did in his youth, i believe. And Cadiz/pearl evoke the element of water also. Lots of element here. Do we have air? Yes, in stanza 2: “i am stricken
by the sound of the hollowed sky.”; and “a chance for stardom” in stanza 2 though this is used in expression. “pumpkin patches and perennials” from stanza 1 are also things of the earth. These are merely creative associations.
Looking at the last stanza:
“and after all the laughter
i am stricken
by the sound of the hollowed sky
and a cavernous jaw heart
full of cavities”
…within the loose context of a visit of exploration thru Cadiz for me seems to say that the poet is humbled in the face of such natural beauty so much so that it has made him aware of a greater appreciation, an emptiness from knowing that there is much more to the world and with the realization that he may never get to see it all. That’s just my take on it.
I always enjoy reading an Oscar Smile’s poem! thx!