In the shivering silence of Winter months
I fetched a wooden pail of frozen water.
They had a branch of braided twine slipped around my ankle.
Silver steam frosted against the dusty wooden panes
and I called hungrily for a scamper of rotting bread.
But they brought to me my wooden pail and told me to fill it again.
So through the snow and through the wind I sat - stomach bare -
pulling at their thickly threaded tether. Through the cold I came to heat
and so I lay on a bed of festering, yellow leaves in the stink of delirious fever.
Yet they woke me up from my Winter slumber in angered haste
and tied me to a willow tree - bark frozen like dirty sleet. They asked me
once more to take my wooden pail and fill it to its rusted rim.
They rested me in flowers but told me not to touch them.
They brought me back to pain with ice in my hand but told me not to drop it.
So they set me out again at pure white dawn to fill my broken pail with old, gritty sand.
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Not a review, but just thought I'd leave some poetry thoughts! I thought this one had a haunting atmosphere. It sounds like someone being forced to work in the middle of winter. Maybe a more abstract interpretation would be someone going through a hard and thankless task, like Sisyphus, if you've heard of that legend. I like how the sibilance reflects a chilly setting, such as in "shivering silence" and "silver steam", and overall I spotted quite a few sound devices.
^ This is also a good line - painful irony!
Hello,
I love anything winter. Especially winter poetry. It's just such a great inspiration isn't it. Anyhow this is my first review so let's hope I get better at it over time. I love the way it flows and how it comes full circle at the end. It seems as though the persona has too many things to do and not enough time to focus on her own needs.
Thanks for using my winter holiday poem prompt!! This is such a neat take on it. The way you've written it in italics makes me feel a bit like it's a dream sequence from a book, which has a really cool effect.
The poem reminds me a bit of the saying about moving a pile of sand, one grain at a time. It's a practically impossible, purposeless task, which is much like the vibe I'm getting from the narrator filling the frozen bucket of water. It's not clear why they have to do it, or who is telling them to do it, but it's clear that some authority is essentially forcing them to do it for what seems to be no reason. There are quite a lot of ways you could interpret this - oppression, people in power distracting from actual issues, abusive or toxic relationships - but however you look at it, it's definitely compelling.
My favourite line -> "and so I lay on a bed of festering, yellow leaves in the stink of delirious fever." describing leaves as festering is so unusual and evocative! And a nice contrast to the rest of the cold, wintery imagery.
Overall, this was an interesting abstract poem and I'd love to hear what your original interpretation/ intended meaning behind it was. ^-^
Hello, this is Kelisot. I am interested in this poem, because this poem takes time for me how I should interpret this as. Perhaps it's my lack of great English skills, or the poem can be interpreted several ways so I cannot easily choose my choices.
Reading the first stanza, I obviously can see that the narrator is using a wooden bail to fetch water in a frozen lake. (Yikes... That's cold.) Continuing, we see the narrator seems to be in a weary state, and is about to give back the wooden bail, but is requested by "they" to go back and fill it up. This repeats again and again, and I love the repetition of this theme in the poem. A Sisyphean Cycle.
A slight a little talk, but do you possibly know the Danaïdes? They are figures in Greek-Roman Mythology, known as the daughters of the king Danaus. In some versions, they are said to be residents of the Greek-Roman Hell named Tartarus. The reason why? For killing their husbands who supposedly they made alliance with. This is interesting, because the punishment the daughters receive are filling water up, except the issue is that there are holes in the bucket. Just mentioning how similar concept of carrying water bails are.
I also specifically used the word "Sisyphean" to mention how the cycle of fetching water is repetitive and painful labor. The word itself ties into Greek-Roman Mythology of another dweller of Tartarus, Sisyphus, punished to roll a boulder to the top, except when Sisyphus is about to complete his labor, the boulder falls down from the start again. Just talking how similar the concepts were.
Anyways, I enjoyed reading you poetry! I liked how similar it was to popular culture, I enjoyed! Have a great day/afternoon/evening!
Hmph.I don’t know is this was the meaning you were trying to convey,but here’s what I got:The person just wants to carry these weights off their back and take a moment of relaxation,but these people are forcing their problems onto them.The narrator is carrying more than they need to.They silently suffer,carrying everyone’s burden.I hope that you will have a lovely and amazing day and night.
Yay. Thank you. I really like that interpretation. Thank you again.