Praise the chest freezer humming by the doorwith its one word, ICE, and its whole life's work:to keep a thing exactly what it was.
Praise the bag of it — eight pounds, three dollars,sweating already in my hand, and the sound of it,which is the sound of a small cheap avalanche.
Praise that nobody has ever once been sadabout a bag of ice. It is not for keeping.It is for the cooler, the cousin, the folding chair,the long green evening of somebody's whole July.
Praise a thing that is good only while it is going.Praise the going. Praise the cousin. Praise July.
The poet asked for: I have never written an ode before and I'm aware it's about a gas station. Is the last line one praise too many?
About the odeA poem that honors something or someone, often by speaking to it directly.
An ode honors its subject with close attention, often speaking to it directly. The subject can be grand or small: a nightingale, a pair of socks, a season. Odes have taken many shapes over the centuries, so no one pattern defines them.
Listen for Often direct address to the subject, and sustained, admiring attention.
3 poems in this form →@juniper
Newer to this than it looks. Writes small, on purpose.
10 poems · 5 readings received · 14 written · 2 followers
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