Picidae

Ksenya Narkevich

 

(1)       The sound of a woodpecker

(2)       doesn’t echo to Andromeda,

(3)       and our illusive significances

(4)       are strange phenomena.

 

(5)       So, throw your fishing net

(6)       catch your greed, know it shapes

(7)       as the devil. Unless someone does something

(8)      wrong, and it escapes.

 

(9)      A side-eye from the Picidae

(10)    picks up your gaze.

(11)     You fought fire with fire

(12)     and your ignorance is cold blaze.

 

(13)     Your smoke is tasted worldwide.

(14)     You’ve grown immune.

(15)     Hear choking in the distance?

(16)     Cough, cough, we’re doomed.

 

 

A Poem Of Hubris

Picidae by Ksenya Narkevich covers the topics of selfishness, hubris, and the attempt at controlling said qualities. This closed poem follows an A-B-C-B rhyming pattern and is separated into 4 stanzas.

Line 1 introduces the woodpecker, which is an extended metaphor. “…doesn’t echo to Andromeda…” depicts how little significance the sound has in the universe. This ties in to the human condition of selfishness and our “illusive significance”.

Line 5 begins with allusions to The Sea Devil. The fishing net represents a weak attempt at controlling greed, or the devil. Line 7 is an allusion to the Lorax quote by Dr. Seuss; the word “wrong” was added to twist the meaning of the quote but still have the message of that people need to do something right. The inquiry question “What can we do to resist greed?” is answered with the idea that to resist greed we must put in an immeasurable amount of effort..

Line 8 returns the woodpecker character and alliterates with the letter “P”. The “side-eye” is common sense from the bird; the following line says we ignore it. Line 12 has the oxymoron of “cold blaze”, which represents destruction, lacking the usual passion of fire.

The last stanza uses synesthesia to emphasize the consequences of our greed. It’s paradoxical to the first stanza, which is about our lack of significance. However, it’s our initial unimportant actions that lead us to believe that we’re worth much. The onomatopoeia is used to make the message real because we’re blind to reality.