Tuesday, May 8, 2018

The Voice of God


The Voice of God

 

 by Crystal Williams


          Poem for Aretha Franklin



when she opens her mouth

our world swells like dawn on the pond

when the sun licks the water & the jay garbles,

the whole quiet thing coming into tune,

the gnats, frogs, the dandelion pollen, the

pebbles & leaves & the whole world of us

sitting at the throat of the jay

dancing in the throat of the jay

all of us on the lip of the jay

singing doowop, doowop, do.

 

 


About This Poem

 

“Many years ago I heard someone describe Aretha Franklin’s voice as the voice of God, which was an amazing thing to say. This meditation is my attempt at understanding why that statement struck me as profoundly true. In the end, Aretha’s voice is an aggregation of the choruses of the natural world—all of their harmony, complexity, and distinctiveness—and it is as close to the divine as I can imagine.”

—Crystal Williams


2 comments:

JiEL said...

As we say in French, the Voices of God are unknowable.

For this gorgeous man in the sun, well God has made him like a candy for the eyes.

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