Rate:4.3 / 7 votes

Brainwave

Ludy Bührs

Back then, the sky was golden, in a harsh way
holding glimmers against a dark blue blaming tide.
Clouds set dreams aside. The sodden fields
confessed their empty furrows.
 
Like begging hands, branches reached up
to the alloyed light, eager to let their buds sprout,
fearing these at risk to drop wilted. All warning
signs stood out high and red along the road,
and hopes had sloped to sorrow.

Long since, this dreadful image
was being remembered as the turnabout,
the day new thinking was making its way to be born.
 
The resistance of the old setting only gradually breaking,
with a steadily stronger flow, new life inevitably
had been heading for a bright pass.  Back then,
few noticed the due birth of this new age.
It took place secretly, painfully and slow.

Ludy Bührs, 2012

About this poem

Yanis Varoufakis last sentence in his book The Global Minotaur (2011): "Perhaps centuries later, our own Minotaur’s death will inspire the poets and the myth makers to mark its demise as the beginning of a new, authentic humanism." Without knowledge of this book, one day in 2012 I wrote this (retrospective from our future) when looking at a photo made by a friend.

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Submitted by ludy_b on April 26, 2021

Modified by ludy_b on November 07, 2024

47 sec read
443

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAA XBCXD XBX CXXXD A
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 797
Words 157
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 5, 3, 5, 1
Full analysis for Brainwave »

Ludy Bührs

 · Amsterdam

The topics she writes about are very diverse, so are the poetry styles she applies. As a Dutch translator and poet, having lived in Cambodia's capital city Phnom Penh for 2.5 years, in 2008 she published "Op de ruïnes van een rijk" (On the Ruins of an Empire) ISBN 978-90-8834-483-1 with 60 poems based on her experiences there. In 2007 she received a Certificate of Accomplishment as one of The Best Poems and Poets of 2007 issued by poetry.com and the International Library of Poetry for her poem Choked Truth, her own translation of "Verstikte waarheid", one of the poems in the book. Born in 1956, she still works as an independent translator, translating from English into Dutch. more…

All Ludy Bührs poems | Ludy Bührs Books

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Discuss the poem Brainwave with the community...

6 Comments
  • mfortney2538
    mfortney2538
    Nice
    LikeReply2 months ago
  • Arman_1
    Arman_1
    Tragic in the way nature ebbs and flows;

    All life is a tragic comedy
    LikeReply 11 year ago
  • Symmetry60
    Symmetry60
    Beautifully written poetry here, Ludy. This is true poetry.
    LikeReply 11 year ago
  • Arman_1
    Arman_1
    Tragic in its beauty;

    Harkens me to a poem I wrote: the death of Summer (not in my collection);

    Your poem is beautiful
    LikeReply 11 year ago
  • karlcfolkes
    karlcfolkes
    Ludy, what is strikingly noticeable in your collection of poetry is your observation of the constant transitory aspect of nature and therefore of life itself as seemingly a mirage, with your poetry highlighting the temporality of all things material, always giving way to ‘the new’ which replaces everything and in time itself becomes replaced. 
    LikeReply 11 year ago
  • ludy_b
    ludy_b
    Yanis Varoufakis last sentence in his book The Global Minotaur (2011):
    "Perhaps centuries later, our own Minotaur’s death will inspire the poets and the myth makers to mark its demise as the beginning of a new, authentic humanism."
    Without knowledge of this book, one day in 2012 I wrote this (retrospective from our future) when looking at a photo made by a friend. 
    LikeReply3 years ago

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"Brainwave" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 25 Jan. 2025. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/98358/brainwave>.

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