Elementa (illustration and poem)

Elementa (illustration and poem), originally uploaded by faith goble.

As it's been awhile since I've posted a poem, here's one that could spark a new knitting creation. . .

Photo note:

Elementa (illustration and poem)

This cover illustration was created in Adobe Illustrator. The title of the book is taken from a poem I wrote about the earth, which focuses on the elementals (fire, earth, water, and air). The frightening guy with the big bronze knives represents one of the elementals of Paracelsus, a gnome I think--certainly not an undine!


"Elementa

I am the earth,
And from my mineral heart
Spring arteries of iron.
Beneath my loamy flesh
There rests a skeleton of stone,
Fed by my fiery blood.

I am a stone—
Heavy as iron and pushing
Into the earth.
I am immovable
While overhead the stars wheel
Toward their doom.

I am iron—
Unyielding, harsh, and cold.
I am born of the stone
To be reborn into innumerable forms
Of utility.

I am a river
And as I quicken towards the sea,
I run under the rusty bridge,
Between banks covered
With rank green growths
Spangled with glittery bits
Of cellophane.

I am the sea—
Quicksilvered union
Of a trillion, trillion drops.
I am broken shining
Into liquid shards,
My myriad faces lambent
With gelid fires.

I am the mist
And I ride above the waters.
I have married air
And left her pregnant
With rain.

I am the wind,
Nursemaid for the air,
And I traverse the earth
With humid clouds transported
In my arms.

I am a fire drunk on the wind—
Ardent beneath the burning stars,
I blaze golden, blue, and orange—
Speaking in tongues,
Dancing alone.


taken from Elementa (Loosey Goosey Press, 2008) by Faith Goble

You can read Luan Gaines' review of Elementa at www.curledup.com/elementa.htm
and an interview at www.curledup.com/intfgoble.htm."