RONDA WICKS ELLER

7. Irish Banzai

coming soon

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8. Summerset and I

Synopsis: With middle age as a companion (Summerset), the narrator has a past life memory that is well known but difficult to fully integrate into this lifetime. The White Bird is the promise of spiritual ascension that can only be achieved if the assimilation can occur. The narrator seems comfortable and friendly with Summerset despite the fact that it symbolically marks the halfway point of a life that has, so far, been limited in the attainment of goals. Alternately, Summerset can be taken as a spiritual level of incarnation with White Bird still being the final and cumulative result. The option is left up to the reader to decide.

Lyric: 3 sextets comprised of predominantly rhyming couplets followed by a single, conclusive couplet.

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9. The Earth Shivers

Synopsis: In this poem the earth is seen from outer space as a galactic/cosmic eye for a universal force whose purpose is to continually cleanse it of impurities. Humanity is seen as the tool for creating dreams and building visions through the experience of trials and tribulations for this cosmic force. Essentially, this is a portrayal of man's purpose for existence being proposed for the reader's consideration.

Lyric: 3 cinquains in a predominantly AABCB rhyme scheme.

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10. Tempestuous Grace

Synopsis: A poem about the essence of life; unseen as the air wraps itself around a fire, moving up from the flame, crossing over and hurling itself back into the flame again. Life is shown as tumultuous (gaining heightened ferocity), then apparently lifeless (nearly snuffed) but returning twice its previous vibration all in one sweeping action (a single solitary breath) that gives humanity purpose (the continual purging through and feeding of the fire that doesn't consume yet offers tempestuous grace).

Imagery: bird anatomy on a bird of undefined colour until its wings are turned dark offers two optional translations: 1) The bird has light colours (otherwise it could not turn dark) or 2) the bird has no colour because it is light - spirit. In the event of 1) the light / white bird is developing its own ascension abilities and is tried by adversity (a red moon) or, for 2) the bird is transparent and a spirit or force that, as a chameleon, always appears the same as the environment that serves as its backdrop. The reader's mind is left to extrapolate this imagery in relationship to the numerous directions it can be followed through the lines that succeed it; just as life can be translated in as many directions.

Free verse.

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11. Hippocrene Spring

Synopsis: Based on the Greek mythological story of Pegasus, the poetic spirit contemplates its own use of "masks" (referencing Yeats and Ellman's "Yeats; The Man and the Masks") as a means of learning about its true self. In the end, the poet addresses the fear that many have in seeing their true spirit of being (that there may be 'terrible snakes') and comes to an understanding that no part of mirroring is dangerous - even snakes are diffused. The poem illustrates masks and the need for their removal as being the reason for which poets are driven to write (see myth) at the same time as portraying the spirit's acknowledgment that it is a fledgling compared to some others - showing its own humanity.

The Pegasus Myth: offspring of Medusa. Medusa was turned into a Gorgon by Athena who was jealous of her beauty and Zeus' interest in her. Medusa could live as long as she didn't look upon herself (her mask) and similarly, no one could look upon her or they would also die. As a Gorgon, her hair was comprised of ugly snakes. When a mirror was turned on her, she died instantly and, in cutting one of the snakes from her scalp, the snake grew into the beautiful Pegasus, the winged horse. Nobody could ride him unless they could harness him with a golden bridle. Pegasus represented divine inspiration and godlike apotheosis; anyone who could ride him could become a great poet. He is attributed with having kicked his crescent-shaped hoof into the ground of Mount Helicon and accidentally creating the Hippocrene Spring (source of poetic inspiration).

Yeatsian: This piece alludes to Yeats in verses 2 and 3 - The Swans at Coole Park and contrasts him "the musing white bird of Innisfree" and "a Coole Park emerald seer with long legs..." to the fledgling poet/seer whose "cygnet's neck is soft and weak".

Lyric: 5 quatrains with predominantly ABBACDDE rhyme scheme.

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12. The Muzzled Lion

Synopsis: This poem is based on three concepts: 1) the numerological explanation of the number 11: A Muzzled Lion - A Clenched Fist, 2) the real and actual nature of a lion and its reaction to being muzzled and confined by humans, and 3) aligns both with Ireland's Easter Rebellion of 1916 and, therefore, Yeats' "Easter 1916" poem. From 1) the essence is a frustration of knowing one is more and can be more than what their current situation (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, geographical, etc.) allows them to be. The poem portrays the negative impact of this situation while still offering respect for the "terrible beauty" that lives within it. Purposefully, the phrase "a terrible beauty" is used to draw the Yeatsian allusion by using his own words. The suppression of the lion compares with the suppression of the Irish under English rule, which was the cause of the Easter Rebellion, albeit ironic that the lion is a royal heraldic emblazon primarily referencing bloodlines of the Norman conquerors who invaded England in 1066 and is, therefore, not Irish - but it clearly infers that Ireland has its own heroes and internal caste that has no need or desire for England's. Other key phrases from Easter 1916 are "all changed, changed utterly" and "transformed utterly" are depicted in The Muzzled Lion's own dramatic change from being wild and free to being self-destructive and desperate, filled with rage that requires an outlet. The feel of the change within the lion accurately portrays the feel of the change in the general atmosphere of Ireland during the uprising. There are more parallels with other Yeats poems that the reader can explore.

Lyric: 2 sextets composed primarily of rhyming couplets.

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13. Remembrances in the Amphitheatre

Synopsis: This poem is a spirit's walk back in time to another life in search of its relevance to the present. The spirit quests for another spirit that is part of its soul group; that existed in a relationship with it in this other physical incarnation. It remembers the setting, a Corinthian colliseum, and recognizes an audience (observing spirits not directly involved in that life but were also present and may have become involved if they hadn't been so self-preoccupied). The spirit sees the significance of that previous incarnation in the observers' belated desire to have it (and its life explanations) back, once it was gone. Finally, the spirit acknowledges the truth: that these observers are only memories and they have gone elsewhere, the spirit it seeks is not there either and really, neither is he/she. The memory exists only as a record for consultation. i.e. One cannot live in the past.

Imagery: The "moon went dark" connotes a New Moon, time of casting off the old for the new, change and rebirth. "Corinthian" and "butterfly hands" refer to the ancient society focused on physical beauty, strength and agility yet their butterfly hands (in contrast to normal perceptions of strength) failed to act (progress) and the "Funeral Gate", the exit area of a colliseum used for taking away the losers in gladiator competitions, breathed its final gasp. This implies the end of an era in order to facilitate new birth. The "canopy" is the open sky vent of the colliseum allowing sunlight into the arena without which all would be dark. The spirit is centered beneath the canopy, flooded with light and understanding the source of its own evolution.   Free Verse.