Ephram Pratt Monitors an Unintended Conversation
Ephram Pratt Monitors an Unintended Conversation
by Jack e Lorts
Bronze angels,
Anguished and asleep,
Divide their time
In silence and
Wilderness menses,
Slackened into black frost
Like unintended
Yellow taxis
Looted and broken
Among small geese
The size of
Shoe lace tips
Frozen in blue boxes,
Singing Dylan songs.
The challengers
Arising from soft glass,
Standing on street corners
Give nervous advice
To barn yard shysters.
Ask them why
And they will tell you:
The beckoning forest
Of alabaster stirs
Them to conversation.
It’s amazing how far apart the images are in this; as though they hadn’t been thought of consecutively but taken randomly from a collection. Yet, they’ve been put into a coherent grammatical sequence, with little flashes of meaning. My favorite: “the size of shoe lace tips.” The word “conversation” at the end connects with the title, suggesting that while it may be “unintended,” things so disparate may be communicating–if carefully listened to, “monitored.” I think this is the poem’s theme, which though the reader may beg “nervous advice” about, best comes from just standing back from the poem, attentive but without any expectation of meaning other than what one may personally take from it.
i don’t think the poem sucks, the lines are cool; author isn’t NOT not onto something (if you ask me politely). not overdone or stupid or anything. but this is one of those poems where the metering of all things throws me off. the voice i read it in is shatner taking himself really seriously. really monotone and tightassed or something.