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Robert Wrigley: Cricket and Cicada
After an hour I can’t tell them
one from another. They’ve become
two parts of an uncommon harmony,
cricket melody then cicada melody
until there’s no melody at all,
just harmony, what you might call
the absence in a song of the song,
though entirely audible, sung,
via special accomodation, by silence,
the night’s most abiding audience,
out there with darkness, its companion—
some say its lover—as they listen
to what rises from the ditches,
uncertain which song is which’s.
Copyright 2023 Robert Wrigley
Robert Wrigley’s most recent collection of poetry is The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin, 2022). His most recent collection of essays is Nemerov’s Door, published by Tupelo Press.
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This is utterly delightful — in a way that’s thrilling, life-affirming, inspiring! And I’m so jealous! 💖🦗🎶🥹
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Me too, Stephanie! No one writes like Bob Wrigley!
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“the absence in a song of the song”
Yes, just harmony; the absence of whining, of lost loves lament, of a bragger’s boast. Human concocted sound including most music has become an irritate to me in my older years but never the songs of natures peaceful nights. You might add in tree frogs and owls and winds to the symphony! Great poem.
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Thanks Leo!
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Left with a smile. Here the chorus is cricket and frog and on warm weekend nights, cheers from the local high school.
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Songs of autumn!
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Ah what a pleasure to read and — in my case to nod “yes, yes” to! And I have NEVER, EVER read this fabulous, witty, superb rhyme as in the two last line:
as they listen
to what rises from the ditches,
uncertain which song is which’s.
Ditches/ which’s ! Smitten, I am smitten, because there’s such a wink to the reader in there, such a simple, human delight in the writing, the description of that “mélange” of sounds/song, that the sound itself imitates the sound described. An onomatopoeic delight!
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I completely agree, Laure-Anne. Wrigley is a genius, the mage of word-music.
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Yes, love the happy wordplay.
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What a lovely comment. Thank you, Laure-Anne.
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For a long time there was an idea that poetry is a place only for poetic words like moon, nightingale and sun. But the poet shows well that it is not important what to say, but how to say it is important. Robert Wrigley shows that it is possible to create an extremely poetic writing even by using Cricket and Cicada. Interestingly, this poem evokes the splendor of nature by highlighting harmony and music , a kind of seeing and hearing and perception that only is possible by a creative poet. With such a poet, you can walk calmly even in the tunnel of horror and enjoy his poetic look!
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Thank you, Farideh.
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