Sunrise, Sunset
"Like the bright hair uplifted from the head / Of some fierce Maenad" just so y'all get the Percy Bysshe Shelley ref from his "Ode to the West Wind."
Sunrise, Sunset
From the idea
of a Lady
with a Chinese fan,
cherry petal filled –
that they spiral off,
hiding her half-
hidden face,
coming front-to
and side-out.
That is like the West Wind –
not so much
to take Shelley’s idea,
but his Maenad
and her fire hair
that burns the sky.
This is not about
the halo-half
circle at
the end of the sea.
But beyond it,
where I see two eyes:
a certain-stepped dancer’s
or a wild creature’s.
That is to say,
being that good
and evil are,
and you are
not absolute, but are,
which face would
you prefer
looking at us
from behind the sun?
—by Sarah Dzida (written in 2002)
Author’s Note: I’ve always had a love of Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” since I had to analyze in high school. Because I went line by line, the imagery and meaning became very vivid to me. And overall, it’s about how Shelley wants his words to be like the wind—to fly out and about the world powerfully. This poem I actually conceived of while sitting in philosophy class at college. I had to write a poem for my writing class so I was looking to write about something. Then this popped out pretty much fully formed.