The Red and the Green

Charles Courtney Curran, "The Edge of the Woods"

The Red and the Green

Here, where summer slips

Its sovereigns through my fingers

I put on my body and go forth

To seek my blood.

I walk the hollow subway

Of the ear; its tunnel

Clean of blare

Echoes the lost red syllable.

Free from cramp and chap of winter

Skin is minstrel, sings

Tall tales and shady

Of the Kings of Nemi Wood.

I walk an ancient path

Wearing my warmth and singing

The notes of a Druid song

In the ear of Jack-in-the-Green.

But the quest turns round, the goal,

My human red centre

Goes whey in the wind,

Mislaid in the curd and why of memory.

Confused, I gather rosemary

And stitch the leaves

To green hearts on my sleeve;

My new green arteries

Fly streamers from the maypole of my arms,

From head to toe

My blood sings green,

From every heart a green amnesia rings.

Anne Wilkinson

I'm stuck on green. Green thoughts everywhere. And so, another green poem. Well, red too, but green beats red. Puzzling over what "to seek my blood", "the lost red syllable", and "my human red centre" might mean, it seems to me that the speaker is someone who believes she has to go inward to find herself or to find meaning. And yet, as she goes out, she finds even her own skin responding, calling out, singing to or with nature, in an ancient and spiritual way (Kings of Nemi Wood, Druid song, Jack-in-the-Green - mythological references that evoke a sense of connection with the natural world) that throws her inward quest off kilter. I relate to this. It's a life-long experience of getting stuck inside my own head, in my "human red centre", which turns out to be nothing but a whirlpool, and finding that nature draws me out of myself and into a larger place, a place with a sense of seasons and patterns within patterns, ever-widening and flourishing and - green! Green for me is the colour of life and healing. My blood definitely sings green. And I love that phrase, "my new green arteries", there is most definitely a connection between ourselves and nature that needs to be kept open, and yes, it's spiritual for me too, it's that fresh awareness of being part of creation, of having a place in all the bigness and beauty, and the heart's-ease of knowing meaning and purpose beyond myself.