Midnight Train
February 6, 2012 by hames1977
Night dresses flowing
pink, plumes of smoke
by the passing train.
No reflection hides your true charm
lonely as a fog, silent as a dove
your ghost would wander
obscure by the bridge
green and blue
overwhelms
impressionism
of the moonlight
over the waters.
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Posted in Art Scene, Literature, Memoirs, Nature, Poetry, Travel | Tagged blue, bridge, charm, dove, dress, flow, fog, ghost, green, hidden, impressionism, lonely, midnight, moonlight, night, obscure, over, overwhelm, passing, pink, plume, poem, poetry, reflection, silence, smoke, train, true, wander, water | 4 Comments
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Solitude Amidst the Maddening Crowd
“lonely as a fog, silent as a dove”
the best ones always are. lovely observation.
hi southernmusing,
thank you so much for the nice comment. godspeed.
The strength of this poem is its brevity – that gave some japanese poetry influence to the structure of the poem. The Japanese poetry are known for minimalism yet creating such vivid imagery in the mind’s senses, so is this poem.
But I have to mention that the imagery is not just oriental at all except of course for the moon’s reflection over the water and the picture of the bridge – but other than that, I see very european scene – classic european paintings flicker in my mind – as I read this poem. The paintings of Claude Monet in particular are great reference to the imagery of the poem, which by the way, I am excited to see on July with my plan to visit his gardens in Giverny, France during my birthday vacation this year. I have seen many of his paintings here in Chicago, I am fascinated most especially for some hints of oriental imageries in his works – the lilies, the bridge(that looks like the classic japanese bridge), and the pond. His paintings are actually real scene painted from the many views of his garden in giverny that I will be visiting soon.
Like your poem, he painted imageries of a particular place – in europe – yet with layers of dimensions and hints of other scenes from another place. Your poem have the japanese influence in structure yet it has other layer of dimensions of classic european imagery.
Intentional or not, I like the influences from two different worlds.
I wish you well.
~ Jeques
dear jeques,
thank you so much. truly, you have captured the essential details of this poem. you are right, i had references on classic european images in writing this poem’s minimalism. i am trying to return to the imagery and descriptive tone on my poems, which adds value to the painterly effect of the words visually or in its imaginative form.
i am actually observing a claude monet painting when writing this. it is an image of the train in a foggy midnight. in the next poetry venture, i would definitely immerse myself practising and reinforcing personification of things to add volume to the poetic thought. i consider myself lacking on this aspect which i find an area where i have to develop myself as a poet.
my best wishes for you on your travels to france, and i believe it would be an exciting adventure for you, and will enrich your artistic experience. all the best.