Trillium

Trillium's book jacket boasts Foerster's patience, and ability to "see into objects and capture their deeper, transparent energies." I agree with this statement whole-heartedly, and chose the poem "Northern Lights" to exemplify this statement. Foerster uses the words "soft, jagged" together in an ironic pairing which sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The speaker is suggesting that everyday probable things are different at the moment he is speaking of. Foerster evokes an image of trees at nightfall which is striking; just about everyone has seen trees at dusk, but he captures them in a way that only a poet could, by using mental imagery and verbal music. "The russet glow behind the trees blackened, and branches coalescedinto curves of nervework."[Foerster 44] In the next line, the speaker talks about how the mosquitoes sang; again, a strange twist to the everyday. Most people think of mosquitoes as a nuisance, and the sound as they buzz near ears as annoying. Foerster changes it to a harmonious audible image. He describes the stars that "sparked", a word that varies from the normal "sparkled" that most would use when describing stars at night. Also, he places the word pizzicati alongside it, once again creating a simultaneous image with sound; in this case an orchestral sound. The next thing the speaker talks about is the Northern Lights; the only image in the poem that is not accompanied with sound. He questions, "why was I aghast at the silence, at those greens and blues that settled so gently upon us?"[Foerster 44] It seems deliberate that Foerster would leave the vision of the aurora to stand on its own amist the sounds of the night, and title the poem accordingly. Although not everyone may have seen the Northern Lights, it is described in such a way that they can be awed along with the speaker at the image created in their minds. I noticed Foerster's attention to detail in other poems as well. "The Clearing" is a fairly easy to understand poem that evokes images of a flock of birds rising from a tree, swirling in a non-pattern calling their echo "orchestral." "The News" uses word sounds to create the poem. I was so spellbound by the beautiful sound and diction, that I didn't hear the actual poem the first time I read it, and had to go back to find out the meaning behind the words. "Autumn Nightfall" begins with the speaker watching his dog relieve himself. Ironically , he begins thinking of lust, and launches into great detail about what nature lusts for, using sound to describe leaves as playing the violin. The poem ends with a draw back to the dog image with the line, "like a run for an old spayed bitch," which is apparently what he assumes his dog lusts for. I found the poem very interesting and amusing.I truly love reading poetry, and learned a great deal from meeting Richard Foerster. My greatest problem with writing (and reading) poetry is the level of depth to strive for