Poem Review: Celestial Interplay in the Creamsicle Skies
How many times in our life we have looked at the horizon and wondered what fares up there? For answers, for blessings, for bounty, in exasperation, and hope, in memory and miracles. Won’t we be interested in knowing about the chaotic color festivals of the eastern or the western skies that form the edge of our worlds?
“Beyond the edge of the world, there’s a space where emptiness and substance neatly overlap, where the past and future form a continuous, endless loop. And, hovering about, there are signs no one has ever read, chords no one has ever heard.”
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
But we seek the answers there, right? What about the moments when the poets look up and explore the skies and beyond? A conscious observation and elements of personification juxtapose in this poetry review as we explore two poems ‘Orange Creamsicle Skyline’ by LL Mack, and ‘Celestial Interplay’ by Pranav Rajesh.
Poem 1: Orange Creamsicle Skyline
In dreamscapes of the vaulted night,
Where moonbeams dance and stars ignite,
I see a vision, oh so bright:
An orange creamsicle skyline.A symphony of hues unfolds,
A tapestry of dreams untold,
Where sun and moon, entwined so bold,
Embrace the dance of day grown old.In whispers of the gentle breeze,
I hear their love songs, soft as seas,
As twilight fades and dawn appeases,
The orange creamsicle skyline.On rare occasions, if you’re blessed,
You’ll catch a glimpse, of this love confessed,
But fleeting moments, all too pressed,
This ethereal, wondrous fest.So open wide your dreaming eyes,
And gaze upon the starry skies,
Where the sun and moon, in sweet surprise,
Embrace the orange creamsicle skies.
~ LL Mack © 2023
Commentary on Poem 1:
The beauty of the orange skies reminds the poet of creamsicles. Creamsicles are colorful but fleeting. They melt faster than we think and in the blink of an eye, they vanish or change form and color.
In dreamscapes of the vaulted night,
Where moonbeams dance and stars ignite,
I see a vision, oh so bright:
An orange creamsicle skyline.
The night is the theatre of dreams. As the dreams dance on the stage, the moon shines the spotlight, and the stars ignite the sparkle. In one of those dreams, the poet LL Mack envisions a bright one — the luscious skyline dripping with orange ice cream. Is it dawn or dusk? Let us explore.
A symphony of hues unfolds,
A tapestry of dreams untold,
Where sun and moon, entwined so bold,
Embrace the dance of day grown old.
The magic is fleeting. The orange-lit stage of the evening sky plays a symphony of hues from orange to burgundy, and everything in between. The theatre unfolds a complex tapestry in our imagination that we call dreams. Up there, in the orange celestial stage, the sun and moon meet and tangle, entering a dance on the beaten floor of the day. This is dusk, and the orange popsicle is the sunset.
In whispers of the gentle breeze,
I hear their love songs, soft as seas,
As twilight fades and dawn appeases,
The orange creamsicle skyline.
The sun and the moon are now in dalliance, in a sort of ballet, floating in the gentle breeze. The whiffs of the breeze sound like love songs, often accentuated by the wavy whispers of the soft seas. The day dawns as the curtains of the night withdraw, and the orange creamsicle is back. The tryst of the sun and the moon is like a ‘date in a popsicle shop’.
On rare occasions, if you’re blessed,
You’ll catch a glimpse, of this love confessed,
But fleeting moments, all too pressed,
This ethereal, wondrous fest.
However, this moment of dalliance is fleeting. The entwined meeting and the entangled dance last for a short moment, of course, highlighted by the orange blush of the sky. The poet says that the sun confesses its love to the moon and vice-versa in these twilight trysts. The fiery glory, when this love is expressed, is magically ethereal and wonderfully festivous.
So open wide your dreaming eyes,
And gaze upon the starry skies,
Where the sun and moon, in sweet surprise,
Embrace the orange creamsicle skies.
You can witness the dance of dalliance, the confession of love, the tryst of the lovers only when you open your eyes and the window of your mind, and look up to see what fares up there — gaze upon the starry skies, you will see that the sun and the moon romancing at the orange creamsicle shop.
Poet LL Mack has painted us with an orange love story. We blush at this wondrous wordplay around the orange stage. The poem first starts as a theatre for romance and then adds the childish wonder of orange creamsicle dreams.
From orange creamsicles, where the sun and moon embrace in sweet surprise, they are in a celestial interplay, according to budding poet Pranav Rajesh.
Poem 2: Celestial Interplay
Up comes the moon,
the evil enchantress,
in her seductively silvery appearance.The Sun shyly looks at her
and blushes behind
the clouds.Alas, now bewitched, he falls into the abyss of the sea
allowing himself to quench this fiery desire,
its vestiges present
in the clouds,
in red.Now below the horizon, under the vast bluish expanse of the sea,
his rays are bathed and cradled.Much later, as dawn tiptoes, the sun rises up
after a long yet transient state of languor,
adorned with divine light, consuming the moon.Beneath this, basks the sea, warmed by the Sun in exchange.
~Pranav Rajesh © 2023
Commentary on Poem 2:
Up comes the moon,
the evil enchantress,
in her seductively silvery appearance.The Sun shyly looks at her
and blushes behind
the clouds.
The earthlings look up to something that can bring them joy. Our poet points out what fares up there — a celestial interplay between the sun and the moon.
The poet sets the evening scene for us. The evening mellows after the humdrum of a busy day. The moon is enchanting while the sun is acting coy.
“Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. then your love would also change.”
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
I wonder why the moon is ‘evil’, probably the Shakespearean take? The sun is shy and hides behind the clouds. I suggest this to be metaphorical, reflecting the poet’s personal experience.
Alas, now bewitched, he falls into the abyss of the sea
allowing himself to quench this fiery desire,
its vestiges present
in the clouds,
in red.
One becomes bewitched, implying that the moon is a witch. Seductive, silvery, enchanting, yet full of evil witchery. There is a sense of empathy towards the sun when the poet begins the next stanza with ‘alas’.
“A sunset is the sun’s fiery kiss to the night.”
― Crystal Woods, Write like no one is reading 3
The sunset happens finally. The sun finally falls for his ‘fiery’ desire. He quenches his desires in the depths of the sea; while the flickers of the flame of his unquenched thirst reflect in the red clouds. The insatiable desire of the sun remains unquenched by the vast sea. A lot is left for the night.
Now below the horizon, under the vast bluish expanse of the sea,
his rays are bathed and cradled.
The unquenched desire is soothed and mollified by the cool blue waters of the sea. The sea acts like a wise sage, treating the sun as a wanton child. Meanwhile, the moon walks around in its seductive silvery attire across the sky.
Much later, as dawn tiptoes, the sun rises up
after a long yet transient state of languor,
adorned with divine light, consuming the moon.
The sun apparently gains wisdom while being coddled by the sea. The soothing effect puts the sun in a state of lassitude. He wears a divine aura but ends up ‘consuming the moon’. I can present two cases here: the sun loses its coyness and acts its part — the man or the sun gains wisdom and becomes the wise one — it consumes the desire. The poet leaves that open to us.
“The man stopped talking and was looking at the sunset.
But what does someone who hates and loves want with a sunset?”
― Alberto Caeiro, The Keeper of Sheep
The sunset is the most magical of all events. It brings the sun to rest yet it brings out the moon. It is the meeting of mind, space, and time in one go — the changing skyscape on the horizon reflects that confluence. The poet’s imagination puts us on an introspective path on the nature of the celestial interplay between the sun and the moon.
Beneath this, basks the sea, warmed by the Sun in exchange.
The sagacious sea now rests in the warm of the morning sun.
What fares up there
As we explore both poems, we see the dalliance of the two brightest objects in our sky, and their tryst sets the sky on fire.
“In that moment, the moon and the sun shared the sky. For all of eternity, the moon and sun have chased each other around the world. Long into the future, they will continue this chase, merging the days into months into years into centuries, until the day the sun cannot take the separation any longer and she shatters, engulfing the moon and everything else in a burst of light. Most will call it the day of final judgment. The end. To the sun and the moon, it will only be the beginning.
For the smallest of instants each day, they pause in this chase. They pause and look back at one another, smiling as if sharing a secret. Two lovers that can never exist as one, except in that single, brief instant. Lying there, Persephone smiled too. And as quickly as a smile parted two lips, the two sky wanderers parted ways. The chase was on again. Night gave way to day.
That is true love, she had always thought. No force but love can impel one to step willingly into the shadows so that the other may shine.”
― Kelseyleigh Reber, If I Resist
Our obvious conclusion is that the celestial interplay in the orange creamsicle skies is about romance — but poets LL Mack and Pranav Rajesh have traced a childish curiosity and an introspective interlude in what fares up there.
~Ashok Subramanian © 2023
