In the tangles of the garden undergrowth,
long neglect
has left the stump of an apple-tree
rotting.
In the soil among the roots is the pupa:
imprisoned
in its cell, the pale grub lying squeezed
and latent
waiting until time, DNA or the sun will
summon it –
as the old lamp found in Aladdin’s cave is
rubbed
and the Genie, grotesque and implacable,
erupts.
It is Other, it is Alien, and yet like the djinn
or man
it is made it might say in the image of God.
Stand back:
it may fly, it may rise; it could block out
the sun.
© John Looker 2015
Poetry from John Looker 
A great poem concerning perspective John!
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By: Frederick E. Whitehead on 23 July, 2015
at 10:19
I love this, John! The poem itself is a story (THE story) in a capsule. 🙂
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By: elainestirling on 23 July, 2015
at 12:01
I hadn’t seen it like that Elaine – and I like that thought. Many thanks.
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By: John Looker on 23 July, 2015
at 18:09
Wonderful imagery, John
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By: derrickjknight on 23 July, 2015
at 16:43
Up to your usual high standard, John!
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By: gorgeousgael on 23 July, 2015
at 21:21
I can feel the struggle in the mind of the English gentleman entangled as it is in “natural history” as it observes a minor event on the garden path, yet given that mind, the event raises specters that raise questions that raise . . . doubts? and shadows of doubts. Perhaps the Adaddin piece would fall to a more extreme modernist editorial sensibility, but it helps set the cultural scene: “grotesque and implacable” indeed! What a world!
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By: Tom D'Evelyn on 23 July, 2015
at 23:49
I guess you’re right that the Aladdin piece would not find its way into the modernist canon, Tom 🙂 But I’m pleased that you feel these verses point towards questions and doubts. They are in part a follow-up to the poem The Young Philosopher.
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By: John Looker on 24 July, 2015
at 09:00
Oh dear, John…..have you been reading Kafka lately?
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By: Cynthia Jobin on 24 July, 2015
at 04:18
Ha ha! Perhaps you should refer me to a therapist!
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By: John Looker on 24 July, 2015
at 08:54
Funny thing…it did send me back to read The Young Philosopher again.
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By: Cynthia Jobin on 24 July, 2015
at 14:23
John, I have been thinking a lot about the massive extinction going on now and wondering why we have all not been out in the streets raising hell about it. I wrote a sonnet,
“By God, They’re Protecting Salamanders
Instead of Human Beings”
An Italian Sonnet
When Darwin saw gradation in a finch
That flits about Galapagous , he saw
One species modified in beak and claw
By choices made adapting to the flinch
Of circumstances born out of the wrench
Of geologic time, the pitch and yaw
Of land and ocean, weather systems raw
With winds that shape the land that rainstorms drench.
But in his old age earthworms sang the song
That sirened through the studies that he did ,
The deaf and blind regurgitator dug
Into plain ground turned soil, the endless round
Of earth built by the living plows that slid
Fecundity out of the realm of slugs.
that is both an explanation and a denial, I suppose, of the explanation for why we aren’t raising hell even though the clock of doom seems to be imbedded in the fact that humankind is truly extincting a valuable part of the earth.
I find “Behold the Beetle” seems to resonate with some of my current thought. It is true.
“It is Other, it is Alien, and yet like the djinn
or man
it is made it might say in the image of God…”
And we should realize that we should
” Stand back:
it may fly, it may rise; it could block out
the sun.”
What marvels of creation we can find:
In the soil among the roots is the pupa:
imprisoned
in its cell, the pale grub lying squeezed
and latent
waiting until time, DNA or the sun will
summon it –
The apple is the fruit of knowledge, is it not?
In the old lamp is a mis-formed genie that is the essence of magic, but his grossness is what we notice, ” grotesque and implacable,” not the magic of a genie erupting from an old bottle.
This poem, like so many of your poems, certainly leads me down a “thinking” path.
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By: Thomas Davis on 25 July, 2015
at 21:20
I’m so glad you enjoyed this one Thomas and I’m very interested to read your sonnet which resonates with concern for the natural world and delight in its creatures (and as always is impeccably crafted). Thanks for sharing it. You might be interested to hear that Darwin’s house is not far from where we live in SE England and you can walk round the garden where he conducted his research into those “living ploughs” (inspired expression, that!). Incidentally, thank you for pointing up the significance of the apple tree in my own poem. It’s very good to hear from you.
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By: John Looker on 26 July, 2015
at 07:22
Really like this, John. I’m struck by the idea of the sun summoning something that may then block it out. Also – as mentioned above, the idea of the apple tree – ‘rotting’ in this case…
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By: Bennison Books on 26 July, 2015
at 14:36
Many thanks Deborah – I am pleased that you like it.
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By: John Looker on 26 July, 2015
at 14:39
I enjoyed this poem, too, and all the comments. I like its movement (the beetle’s and the poem’s) from prison to sun.
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By: annajanemark on 28 July, 2015
at 20:12
Thanks Anna; it’s nice to hear from you.
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By: John Looker on 29 July, 2015
at 09:39