Water Picture Poem by May Swenson

Water Picture

Rating: 3.3


In the pond in the park
all things are doubled:
Long buildings hang and
wriggle gently. Chimneys
are bent legs bouncing
on clouds below. A flag
wags like a fishhook
down there in the sky.

The arched stone bridge
is an eye, with underlid
in the water. In its lens
dip crinkled heads with hats
that don't fall off. Dogs go by,
barking on their backs.
A baby, taken to feed the
ducks, dangles upside-down,
a pink balloon for a buoy.

Treetops deploy a haze of
cherry bloom for roots,
where birds coast belly-up
in the glass bowl of a hill;
from its bottom a bunch
of peanut-munching children
is suspended by their
sneakers, waveringly.

A swan, with twin necks
forming the figure 3,
steers between two dimpled
towers doubled. Fondly
hissing, she kisses herself,
and all the scene is troubled:
water-windows splinter,
tree-limbs tangle, the bridge
folds like a fan.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Leslie Audes 04 December 2009

Swenson is definitely a poet for lovers of imagery: of which i'm one!

8 4 Reply
dissatified exmember 09 January 2005

hehehehe you describe that scene so very well. How true your words are

9 2 Reply
Kevin Patrick 10 November 2012

So rich and imaginative one visual image transformed into this work of stellar work, the imagery is just bursting life and clarity. Deserves a higher rating then it currently has

6 4 Reply
Patricia Grantham 10 November 2014

This poem is really magnificent in its entirety. Staring into the water makes everything topsy turvy. A distorted image but an image nonetheless. A glorious write.

5 5 Reply

An inverted view of life That only a poet can paint so well looking at placid waters images in a dance so swell I welcome all ye poets reading this to my page too

6 3 Reply
Dr Dillip K Swain 12 February 2024

Loved this upside down portrait! Loved the image of a swan with twin necks...An excellent poem....appreciated the theme, imagery and the setting of the poem!

0 0 Reply
MAHTAB BANGALEE 12 February 2024

there are the picture is crystal imaginative imagery; greatly written the poem

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 12 February 2024

CONGRATS being chosen by Poem Hunter and Team as The Modern Poem Of The Day! TOP Marks!

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 12 February 2024

FIVE: perception, reflection, and the transformative power of observation. It encourages us to look beyond the surface and consider alternate viewpoints, much like gazing into the ripples of a pond and discovering hidden wonders

0 0 Reply
Sylvia Frances Chan 12 February 2024

FOUR: The water's surface acts as a lens, revealing a topsy-turvy world where reality is both familiar and altered. Swenson's playful language invites readers to see the ordinary in extraordinary ways, challenging our perceptions and encouraging us to appreciate the beauty of the unexpected.

0 0 Reply
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