Leaves by the Sky

A Variation on William Carlos Williams' "Flowers by the Sea"

Leaves by the Sky

After William Carlos Williams

When under the energized sharp sky’s
brink, aware, the tree leaves

spin their shape— willow and palms
fried, heated, seem hardly leaves in wind

but sunlight and the weightless— or the form
perhaps—of infinity, whereas

the sky is still and seems
limited upon its treelike trunk.

— Adam Powers

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Photo by Erik Holm on Unsplash

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Photo by Bundo Kim on Unsplash

This is as direct a rewrite as you can imagine, as you can read William Carlos Williams’ original poem ’Flowers by the Sea’ here. I enjoy the seamless blend of natural forces, where each gives to one another both what they share and contrast, ending on this unique exchange of descriptors– such that flowers are what have movement and sea is peaceful and plantlike. It’s giving, floral elemental pastoral dance; meditation in shared natural attributes between Flowers and Seas, and of what’s exchanged through them being “by”-- their adjacency. So I simply took the frame of my attention and applied William’s words to what’s outside my window: Leaves by the Sky.