Upon Meeting a Crane
—at the Wilmington VA Medical Center
I met a crane; the crane met me beside
A hill ambitiously too mowed,
Girdled by a semi-liquid stream—
The kind that swells and empties with the tide.
The crane and I perched, motionless, serene,
Bore witness as the water choked and flowed.
We breathed a dozy spell and it breathed us.
Then he, sleek feathered form, white carapace
A peaceful flag against green razor reeds,
Wrenched anguine neck against a sudden sound,
Each imbricated feather taut. The weeds
Moved in moving circles as he bound,
Sterling wings pulsating like the tide.
A peaceful flag does not mean cowardice:
The instinct, the intention, is to live.
This is the goal to which all beings strive.
We’d had our moment, breathing: me, the crane,
Swelling and contracting endlessly.
Dr. Jenna Tedesco is a psychologist specializing in the treatment of trauma using mindfulness-based practices in a psychodynamic framework. She has been writing poetry since enjoying the fine mentorship of Dr. Rachael Hadas in 1990.
Beautiful poem with breathtaking imagery, Jenna, with such inspired words like “anguine” (snakelike) and “imbricated” (overlapping).
Thanks so much Roy! I have an excellent thesaurus. 🙂
Lovely poem, Jenna. Love this image of “A peaceful flag against green razor reeds,” and also the “sterling pulsating wings”. I’m sure if I ever spot
a Crane, your words will come back to me.
How kind of you to say that! Thanks so much!
We all, on occasion, have an interaction with nature that gives us pause. You’ve done wonders with expressing this one, Jenna.
Thanks for the read.
Thank you so much Paul; I set my intention to notice the nature about me. Sometimes I’m there, sometimes not so much. Ah, acceptance and letting go…
A moment of stillness, peace and oneness with nature, captured perfectly. Thank you Jenna.
Thank you Martin! I had hoped for that peace.
The poem has the feel of meditative breathing, life’s rhythmic expansion and contraction.
Ah, Kevin. That’s the main piece of it: that coming and going, in and out, expanding and contracting. I’m so glad you noticed!
Amazing poem. Every thought seems to be in a state of abeyance, as the dizzying sequence of images tumbles down each line, especially in the second stanza. And never does the author stray into overstatement. Tedesco’s touch is lighter than the tip of a painter’s finest brush as the artist adds detail wherein the art lies.
Wow.
CB, I am deeply appreciative of these sentiments. Thank you!!!!!
I was transported. Thank you for this moment in verse, Jenna.
A moment of meeting, followed by departure, depicted in closely observed details of motion. And then interpreted as a symbol–flying the white flag of peace. Jenna, you fly far beyond the crane when he leaves the scene. It’s good to pause and see every creature striving for life. It suggests universal fellow feeling that comes from us capable of thinking, but can be measured by breath, something we share with others. Fine reflection on this singular meeting between lives human and avian.
Milosz said or implied somewhere that a poem should include as much and as many kinds of reality as possible. This poem is charged with layers of reality: imbricated.
That moment when nature, when something from nature, looks back at us and with something other than fear and flight, is so rare and wonderful: in experience or in poetry. Of course, there is flight here, but the something other comes first, and the flight is not in fear, but in peace. I love it.
Thank you so much Monika! Your comments are making me feel “seen”, as the kids say.