{"id":2427,"date":"2021-05-03T15:04:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T15:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/?p=2427"},"modified":"2025-06-30T19:22:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T19:22:55","slug":"apocrypha-of-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/apocrypha-of-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Apocrypha of Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the first day, light said
\nLet there be God.
\n<\/em>And there was God.
\nLight needed shape to move inside,
\na likeness tawny and thick-maned.
\nIt strode into the absence we call night
\nand what it tongued
\nsparked visible then glowed,
\nwarmed by its golden spittle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It splashed and rolled in water
\ntill rivers and seas could not be parted
\nfrom its gleam. It lingered
\non the hourglass
\nof August pears; on blackbird,
\nbear scat, calves\u2019 blood;
\non the hand of the beloved,
\nit\u2019s unlikely flare.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It went everywhere, glossed all
\nthat waited to be seen. At last
\nit slipped into the farthest corner \u2013
\nthere, it stumbled. Stopped.
\nHid its brightness and would not move.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What in the dark did it wish it hadn\u2019t found?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not arbutus limbs, an otter\u2019s head
\njust above the sea; not orange pips,
\nfish fin, a panther\u2019s muscled plush.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Now you make a list of things.
\nRemember light\u2019s likeness, remember
\nthis is the beginning of the first day.<\/p>\n

Lorna Crozier<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

what it means<\/h3>\n

\u00a0This is an origin myth about the start of the world except in this version Light is the originator and makes God as well as everything else.\u00a0\u00a0Light is powerful but not all powerful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0We all need to make an origin myth.\u00a0\u00a0We all need to know what is in our dark.<\/p>\n

\u00a0why I like it<\/h3>\n

Rachel Rose suggested I read Crozier after I told her I was working on poems about the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0So, I like that Crozier\u2019s taken on this same project. I happen to love Bible stories and origin myths and variations there of. I like this image of the initial power of the world being like a lion licking us into being. But, I picked this poem for the \u201cNow you make a list of things.\u201d That line gives me shivers every time, how it turns to the reader and makes them think about what in the dark they wish they hadn\u2019t found.<\/p>\n

craft<\/h3>\n

\u00a0Well, that line \u201cNow you make a list of things\u201d is breaking the fourth wall. How often do I turn and address the reader? Never. The lists she makes of where light lands and where it doesn\u2019t are so interesting. She jumps from the natural world to the hand of the beloved from the quotidian orange pips to the romantic and powerful panther. Poems are supposed to juxtapose and surprise us like this. Note to self.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the first day, light said Let there be God. And there was God. Light needed shape to move inside, a likeness tawny and thick-maned. It strode into the absence we call night and what it tongued sparked visible then glowed, warmed by its golden spittle. \u00a0It splashed and rolled in water till rivers and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2427"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2542,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2427\/revisions\/2542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yayserver.com\/debbiebacharach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}