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MICHAEL REHLING
Captured Moment
internal stirrings
(like sounds of
hummingbird wings)
seen by others
felt by me
my mind
(darting
here
then there)
thinking now
(of you)
Copyright MICHAEL REHLING
(all rights reserved; To copy or translate this poem, please contact the poet)
TRANSLATOR and ILLUSTRATOR WANTED FOR THIS PAGE
Editor's Comment:
In MICHAEL REHLING's "Captured Moment", a moment is stage center; it is a MOMENT to which the speaker refers.
What happens is the MOMENT of the hummingbird observed, which turns readily after "felt by me" into both the speaker
of the poem and the hummingbird offering, “my mind / (darting / here / then there).”
The question arises: Is that the mind of bird or speaker/observer. In lesser hands, one would expect resolution/answer in the next
and last stanza. But we complete the sentence “my mind …// thinking now” and thinking is precisely what we are doing. But
“thinking now / (of you)”
Is it the bird referring to the speaker (you) or the speaker referring to the bird (you) or yet another possibility, that of the speaker
refers to the reader (now as observer). Truly, any captured moment is “my mind thinking now” which already suggests the
“captured moment” is a past/passed moment. The parentheticals: “darting / here/ then there /.../ of you” suggests a long view,
panoramic as it were, of another person. Yet there are only (in the poem) hummingbird and speaker.
The poem elegantly sums the whole conundrum of the uncertainty principle: is the observed-in-a-moment natural; or, is it
somehow influenced by my observation, and/or by my thinking of it. How is it changed; why is it not changed?
I've taken the extraordinary step of calling this the "Captured Moment issue" to honor this poem and poet, and to suggest
something of what I think is a great poem: its levels are personal to the poet, personal to the reader, about nature, and ultimately about
one's place in society and the whole scheme of things. Each choice of point of view -
speaker as poet, as hummingbird, as reader - creates another poem. We read one set of words; we read three poems.
A new voice in poetry, Michael Rehling has a promising future. We should all encourage such excellence as his.
--JHj
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