mnLIT presents: Neil Dyer
This week's What Light-winner, Neil Dyer, had two poems selected (by different jurors) for the 2009 cycle of mnLIT. This poem (a timely ode to springtime), "Here, At Last," was chosen by poet Leslie Adrienne Miller.
Here, At Last
Here, at last, we pause
to feel the warp and
pucker of the earth, to
watch its strident
pullulations; your gentle
agnostic intonations invoke
a troop of shaggy gods
like points along a line;
they rise and breed with
humankind, something
faintly syncretistic, a smell
of rot beneath the bloom.
On this coolish
April afternoon grassed and
treed in elemental browns
it would seem
better to consider well
the constant leaving of
our lives. Is there something
tenderly Alcestine in the seasons?
The goat-limbed god within
the hedge is watching us with
golden eyes bladed in
primeval blackness;
grapes and grass spring from
his loins, siskins sing and
build their nests
within his hair, you tip your
head to sniff the seed
within the air.
This, then, is the list
of elegant indecencies we
left within our wake;
the things undone and done
which tempt the exhumation
of species long extinct. What
will you do with all of that?
The cruelty of time lies in
its resolute recession.
You sip the tea and note
with wrinkled snout that
we let it steep too long, but
drink it bitter anyway
then pluck a lilac from
the hedge and make
some magic in the breeze.
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About the poet: “My name is Neil Dyer and I am a resident of Moorhead, Minnesota. I was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, and have lived all of my life in the upper Midwest. I am married with three children and three grand children. I am by training a veterinarian, but have written poetry and prose since I was a teenager. My hobbies include reading, writing, bird watching, and bicycling.
About poetry, Dyer writes: “Poetry is an exercise in capturing images, and then using language in a way that appeals to the ear as well as the spirit. This “quest” for images is somewhat endless in that there is a perpetual challenge in trying to find new ways to present an emotion, experience or idea. I love words, the sound of words, and the manner in which they convey meaning. For me, poetry provides the richest medium in which to attempt such crafting.”
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The 2010 competition cycle of mnLIT is now open. Deadline for submissions by MN poets and writers for mnartists.org’s flash fiction and poetry competitions is midnight, May 16. Click here for the detailed call for writers, to find out more about this year’s fantastic line-up of jurors, and for full information on the series.
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