Here we are again! This time, let's take a look at the first two stanzas of Sally Rosen Kindred's poem "Prayer with Oaks and Visual Snow Syndrome" published by Thrush Poetry Journal. And remember - we read poems like we cook barbecue. Low and slow.
“The snow in my head is touching
all the trees in the woods, touching the twilight bark
that falls like the braids
of women. The snow in my head rubs its faces
into my face, then turns and rubs its faces
on the gray cheeks of moss”
Aren’t lenses funny? We all look through lenses - of class, age, gender, culture, experience. Some are muddier than others. My lens has definitely been scratched by neurodivergence, trauma, poverty, as well as the resulting depression and anxiety. Believe me, it ain’t rose-colored glass, ya’ll.
So when I came to Sally Rosen Kindred’s poem and read the first phrase,
“The snow in my head”
I immediately connected to what I read, through my own lens, as a (delicate, delicious) metaphor for difficult, disabling mind chatter - rumination, distraction, indecision, answer-seeking.
In my last OPP, I confessed my penchant for skipping titles. Here, I skimmed the title, Prayer with Oaks and Visual Snow Syndrome, forming a notional expectation of an intimate, spiritual nature poem a la Mary Oliver. I also, however, picked up on an already present dichotomy provided by the colder medical parlance of Visual Snow Syndrome, promising that ever-important tension which every poem needs. It was indeed this dichotomy that drew me to read the poem.
(Me, learning the differences.)
Okay, back to Kindred’s poem. We have the title, Prayer with Oaks and Visual Snow Syndrome, presenting this intriguing dichotomy of spiritual and medical. Then, the first phrase of the first line, which puts me in my head, thinking this is a mental illness poem. Highly relatable. Super excited.
But, then. Let’s move on…
“The snow in my head is touching”
Bitch……….What?
Tension.
I was rolling right along with the idea that “snow in my head” meant brain snow, meant anxiety - something abstract and intangible, like serotonin. Because of course it doesn’t really snow in one’s head, therefore the poet can’t be talking about actual, tangible snow with the ability to touch anything.
Remember the rules I mentioned last time for reading poetry?
1. Never trust poets.
2. Keep it loosey goosey.
By “never trust poets,” of course, I mean never trust yourself. Never fully and completely trust yourself to make out meaning upon initial encounter. This leads directly to the next rule, which essentially is an exhortation to stay curious while reading. Ask questions. If reading poetry were a yoga pose, it would be called, “Hmmmm-asana…”
Okay, “The snow in my head is touching”
Tension is created here by the excellent line break.
wHat iS tHe sNoW toUchiNg? I want to know. So I keep reading - quickly, with desire. With curiosity. Nice trick, that.
Not only does a line break like this bait my thirst for the next line, it also simultaneously seers into my mind the word “touching.” The poet is masterfully pushing me forward and holding me close.
So, we go on.
“all the trees in the woods”
Multiplicity.
All. trees. woods.
The insistence on naming multitude - not just “trees in the wood” but all trees in plural woods - is biblical in its iteration. I think of the lengthy “begat” list in Genesis, or Jesus’ gospel assertion that “not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.” Be careful not to think the poet verbose. Rather, she is succinctly gesturing toward an impossible enormity that is in line with the unfathomable workings of the universe. Six words, and all of all is implied.
Don’t leave this line just yet.
“all the trees in the woods.” is the object of the verb phrase “is touching,” referring us back to the subject: snow.
Multiplicity upon multiplicity...
We can think of snow as a singular entity - a “blanket of snow,” if you wish. Here though, by following snow with her choice to stress multiple in the way that she has, the poet takes an ice pick to the brain - shattering solid “snow” into its own very real yet unfathomable multiplicity - snowflakes. She leads us to imagine how many snowflakes it would take to touch - as personified, plural individuals, not cover, as in a singular blanket - all the trees in the woods.
Just as we are pushed forward in the poem at the same time that we are held close, we are now made to clutch both the universe and the single star. Dichotomy.
And this is all done implicitly, with excruciatingly careful word choice, all while coming across as casual, off the cuff.
Now, keep going.
“all the trees in the woods, touching the twilight bark”
Here, I’d actually like to zoom out, for once. Let’s take a look at the entire stanza and slurp up some music, shall we? I’ll highlight the notes for you.
“The snow in my head is touching
all the trees in the woods, touching the twilight bark
that falls like the braids”
Here again, the poet is not being verbose, or redundant. By repeating “touching,” she is creating music - not just rhythm, but also adding to the disparate rat-tat-tat or taps of the quick-repeated t sounds against the slower bass of the two b thumps.
Kindred ends the stanza by walking into a simile. If the cliff’s edge of her first line break is any indication, we are in for a doozy when she breaks a stanza. Let’s see.
“of women.”
Yep.
She could’ve picked “hair.” “Braids of hair” makes sense. She picked “women.” Why?
Well, we’ve got the last verb, “falls” stuck in our heads, don’t we? Sure, we read “like the braids,” but our brains recognize this as part of a comparison and we want to find the next part of the comparison. Falls like braids of what? Again, just as with her initial line break, here with her stanza break the poet creates tremendous thirst - desire, curiosity - for the next word.
With “falls” in our minds, she takes us to “of women.”
I think I’ve hinted at it, but I have to say outright that the subtlety at work in this poem is outstanding. Each word is doing so much heavy lifting, and the poem never breaks a sweat. The poet is etching a fable onto a grain of rice.
Snow falls. Twilight bark falls. Braids fall. Women fall.
You know what? Let’s take a break for a minute. I want to be sure to acknowledge what is explicitly stated in this poem, and what is my own inference.
With my tongue in my cheek, I’ve stated that we can’t trust poets. What I must now ask you to consider is the poet’s trust in us.
By publishing a poem, a poet is necessarily trusting a reader. I’ve had the experience of hearing stunningly unexpected interpretations of my poetry, and I can tell you that it has made me question not just my writing, but also my own sanity.
So, I want to say flat out that I am leaping and bounding here. In fact, having read the poem more than once now, and having done some research that corrected an erroneous assumption I made going into the poem, I know that my initial interpretation of “The snow in my head” was wrong.
I’m excited by the leaps, bounds and inferences I am making with this poem...
I think this poet - I think poetry in and of itself - is masterful. I love poetry. And loving poetry means reading a poem more than once, each time open to meaning - more meaning, new meaning, different, changing meaning. Only the poet can speak with absolute authority on the meaning of their poem.
Now, that said, the choice to break and start a new stanza with “of women.” is important, and demands our attention and curiosity. That much is definite, regardless of what meaning you assert to it. I think this choice also immediately demands a feminist lens. What I make of this choice is something dangerous, powerful and damning - the way educated women, resisting centuries of subjugation, are dangerous, powerful and damning. I want to also note the choice of multiplicity, of plural, once again - women, not a singular woman. Power in numbers. Power of one in evoking a multitude.
On we go.
“of women. The snow in my head rubs its faces”
Ah! The multiplicity of snow that I ferreted out earlier seems to be confirmed here. Also, the personification, the individuality: faces. Let’s look at the verb here. rubs. Ever think of snow, even personified snow, as rubbing? Not “touch,” which might be expected. rubs is completely unexpected. That’s T-E-N-S-I-O-N. I’m starting to hear “tension” as “teeeeen-SION!” as in the military “ten-HUT!” as in when you experience tension in a poem, pay attention.
Also, rubs is a choice that repeats the b sound from the first stanza.
Music. Let’s zoom out again.
“of women. The snow in my head rubs its faces
into my face, then turns and rubs its faces
on the gray cheeks of moss”
Gone is the rat-tat-tat of t. Joining the slow b bassline now is the hiss of s. New stanza, starting with “of women.” New music. And, I’d argue, new mood.
What is that mood?
Well, let’s take a look. We’ve gone from touch, to rub. Rub isn’t bad per say, but it is certainly more aggressive than touch. This is perhaps confirmed by the use of into. Other choices, such as “on” or “against” might have implied something gentle, but into? Then, there’s the layered cognitive dissonance, the tension, happening here: that snow is multiple, that snow is personified, that snow rubs. Snow has become confrontational, intimate, like the homecoming queen alone in the band room with the wallflower.
Let’s quickly take a look at the snow’s last action here, then send you on your way to read the rest of this wonderful poem.
“into my face, then turns and rubs its faces
on the gray cheeks of moss”
What do we make of this turning? Is another mood change in the next stanza foreshadowed? It’s nice to think of moss as having cheeks. That’s cozy, somehow. Cheeks is a nice word. The pronunciation of ee makes you smile, if you exaggerate it, as with “cheese.”
But, gray cheeks. Moss is green. Why is the personified moss gray?
Dichotomy. Mystery. Questions. Tension.
There is much to discover and digest in the rest of this poem, including a breathtaking grappling with the spiritual that concludes with an ending prayer that is amongst the most true, succinct and heartbreaking lines of poetry I have ever read.
Please do read this poem in its entirety, and if you haven’t already, discover the poet and the journal.
* The words "bitch" and "whore" appear in this post. I affirm that I reclaim both as honorifics.
** If you are the poet, and anything I have put forth here is wrong or offensive, please do let me know.
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