REPOUSSÉ
REPOUSSÉ
by Aaron Fagan
There is a chill.
The evening light
Of this winter
Day dissipates as
The frost in the
Windows grows.
Moments pulse by,
Pounding the drift
Out from behind.
A haze of atoms
Constitute just as
What is practical
And what is absurd
Slink from view.
To the last, nothing
Lasts, but the long
History of carbon
Comes screaming
Through these
Recorded violins
Of the past blowing
Hard in the heart
Of this room.
A poem as trim and subtle as a violin. You can see the bow sounding out the differences from the enjambments. “Moments pulse by,/Pounding the drift/Out from behind” resonates the repousse image of the snow. “What is practical/And what is absurd/Slink from view” defines a psychological state of transcendence. “The long History of carbon” I think refers to the diamond of the needle playing the record. All the poem is about is listening to a recording on a blustery winter night, but what it evokes–“violins Of the past blowing Hard in the heart Of this room”–delivers a deep personal feeling we all can share.