A Whorl of Poetry

Index of Authors

Song to the Rising Sun

By Paulette Jiles (1989).

We always knew we were somebody else.
as well as the people we have become
Something is dreaming us, as persons of intelligent purity,
an evocative and spontaneous self.
We would like the meet this self
in a landscape with Arctic herb-willow blossoms
and the saffron northern poppies
and peregrine falcons overhead,
their airy voices light as shortwave,
walking through these dreams in mortal terror
here on the planet of our birth
here in this polar region
we live through profound experiences
every moment of our lives
every second of our lives,
and we do not know it.
You are right to live in fear.

-- From "Song to the Rising Sun" Song to the Rising Sun (1989), p. 22.

Links:

  • Paulette Jiles profile online at the University of Calgary English dept site.
  • Essay: "'Let me Begin Again': Women and Storytelling in The Poetry of Paulette Jiles" by Susan J. Schenk.
  • "Dreams & Approaches" is online here (scroll down to poem #3).

Paulette Jiles has written at least the following books: