Dendrites
Clouds today form plates
And columns in the unstable sky,
Frosted vapor spun to sugar,
Atoms in the roiling wave of space
Redirected from the spectrum
Of the sea and wound into mists
And crystals on a snowflake’s
Basic face, a nucleus where
The core of stars is based,
Reflecting the unseen colors
Of the sublime on the trellis
Of our more human rhyme.
Crystals swirl, burst apart, accrete
To make the blown-glass shapes
Where separate bodies meet,
The framing squares and sheets
From which their metronome,
Coils and swivels that we plumb
And rule, will honeycomb the time
With the soft translucent prism
Of our winter’s winding home.
January 1st, 2024
Tippet Alley
March 18th, 2024
Kaiholu
Explanation
Snowflakes are made of as many as two hundred ice crystals fused together. They shape themselves into dendrites, plates, columns, needles, irregular and rimed forms.
Snow appears white in color despite being made of clear ice. This is due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small crystal facets of the snowflakes.
The various ingredients of a snowflake are like human qualities or piano parts, which, when assembled, make something different each time. Two properties bind together to make a complete snowflake.
This poem combines the faces of two people with the facets of snowflakes and the coils and swivels of a piano or a metronome to assemble the memory of a snowy night we spent in our cabin in the mountains above Vail.