The Sassoon Collection
ii. A pickle and a black hole
Mass and form had the pickle, sweet, sour, tall and straight;
The round black hole collapsing still further then it knew
Made its longest shadow with gravity
A ghostly bridge ’twixt the pickle and space.
But stars, with their continuous day, must pass;
And blustering winds will stretch all gherkins
to which I’ve no measurements to express
the moment of conjunction,
a singularity with no exit
for stars and pickled cucumbers alike.
— Zumwalt (2011)
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Comments on: "The Sassoon Collection: ii. A pickle and a black hole" (12)
A gherkin, not an onion eh? No layers of skin to peel back from this waste of space! If the pickle was choking on vinegar would we hear it choke in space! Seriously another fine example of great poetry!:0)
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An enjoyable read 🙂
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what a beautiful piece of writing.. just amazing.. 🙂
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think i never read a poem with stars and pickled cucumbers in the same line..so refreshing…sweet and sour..love it
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Is this poem a juxtaposition? Whether it is or not it’s a very fine poem. However, I was just curious.
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poetofmidnight,
Speaking as the site adminstrator, I would say this poem qualifies as a juxtaposition — the mundane with one of the most interesting phenomena there is, something human-made with something natural, something small with something large, something of little gravitational influence with something of almost unbelievable gravity, etc.
Of course, one cannot avoid the Freudian dream interpretation of this: the pickle represents anxiety, fear, an unavoidable catastrophe as well as the connection with the phrase “in a pickle.” It’s possible there is still another dream analysis based meaning — which if so, further enhances the juxtaposition of these two nouns.
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I’m not good with poetry – I admire it when I see poetry I can “get”. A lot of it I don’t “get”! This was good, thanks.
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wordsfallformmyeyes,
Welcome to zumpoems! Glad you visited, read and commented!
A lot of these Zumwalt poems avoid unusual words, arcane literary references, etc. making them relatively accessible. It’s not always true, but for the most part, I think one of Zumwalt’s objective is to be reader-friendly.
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willowdot21, Poetry & Icecream, abchica, claudia,
Thanks for your continuing visting, reading and commeting on site!
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A lovely read, many thanks!
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What a fresh and clever composition. Beautifully done and thought provoking
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“A ghostly bridge ’twixt the pickle and space.” – Don’t ever stop writing.
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