Tim Scannell’s Eden, Over

Tim Scannell’s collection of poems in “Eden, Over…” was produced by Cedar Hill Publications in 1998. This collection is elegant and eloquent, Mr. Scannell has a wonderful gift for rhyme and I am happy to share some of his poems with you:

Endurance

I have decided, this November
to let each loss not longer linger.
Maples, naked, gray against snow
stripped of flutter, yet still show
their growth of limb & farthest bud
of thunderstorm & August drought.

Since it is November I couldn’t help including this poem, especially since it has a wonderful rhythm and rhyme to it. I really enjoy the lines “Maples, naked, gray against snow/stripped of flutter” to signify the absence of its leaves. It also makes a wonderful visual.


Swimmer

Tread, then, a while. Observe the swell
whose undulation flows, at its pace,
toward the place. Stop for breath, to feel
each foot-leg, hand-arm separately,
unionsoned a moment in the crossing
of palm-pulled water, sequenced kick.
So, all is well.
Tread a measure
- dance where you are –
up, up to each crest (all there),
there beautiful, even down each long,
gently-sloped trough which is
the obvious way of tidal water.
There, as eye shuts going under with
each stroke. Rest and be thankful: the coast
afloat, horizon to horizon.

The visual of the swimmer through the waves is executed perfectly in Mr. Scannell’s lines. I really like the words “palm-pulled water” as it creates a sense of feeling the water, not just picturing a swimmer moving through the waves. The poem also creates a sense of peacefulness through words such as “gently-sloped trough” and “Rest and be thankful: the coast/ afloat…”


Close Call

Down the ravine
- long talus, scree –
Nerve
Slipped butt-hot skid
Reaching
cedar branch gripped
wrenching shoulder happily
safe
- stars tonight –
yet down, slower
for another thousand feet
(aching ankles, fried soles)
Triumphant kneeling in
an eddy, finally hearing the
boulder-water-deafening
roar, and spray cooling salt
dripping from my eyes.

Tim Scannell creates a disjointed lined poem that coincides perfectly with the subject of the close-call car crash down the ravine and the racing thoughts of the driver. The sounds, the sights, the terrifying “wrenching shoulder” versus the serene “stars tonight”, the sounds of “boulder-water-deafening/roar” while landing with “spray cooling salt/dripping from my eyes” give this poem exciting motion with words.


If you enjoyed this sample, note that Mr. Scannell has recently been featured in Alternating Current’s Poeisis in a previous post and you can find him at bigcitylit.com to find out more about his writing style.

Thanks always for reading, please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…