On Like the Scent of the Sycamore by Jessica Isaacs
by Ken Hada
This is a short lyrical poem, which makes use of the five senses – smell being the dominant sense. In addition to smell, we can see the sycamore, we can feel the wind moving about the speaker in the poem, through her. We can hear the wind in the sycamores. And we can almost taste the cumulative effect as it saturates the speaker of the poem.
Like the Scent of the Sycamore
The wind whispered through the sycamores today,
and I smelled the sky, like your cologne;
you were the air on my skin, in my hair,
filling me with your breath.
The wind sighed through the sycamores today,
and I wondered why I always sensed
more was coming, like a storm threatening,
hanging heavy in swollen clouds.
The wind wailed through the sycamores today,
and I trembled at the sound,
my ears straining for your voice,
your absence a fresh grief pressing down on me,
the air humid, tense with my longing,
for, like the scent of sycamore,
your spirit hangs,
heavy, in my life.
Jessica Isaacs, Deep August
Village Books Press, 2014
Used with permission
The poem consists of three stanzas, followed by a concluding stanza. Each of the first three stanzas open with the repeated line:
The wind whispered through the sycamores today
The wind sighed through the sycamores today
The wind wailed through the sycamores today.
The repeated lines emphasize the commanding presence of the sycamores, what and how they signify an emotional response from the poem's speaker.
Notice the verb choices that change with each repeated opening line: whispered, sighed and finally wailed. There is an increasing tension building with each stanza marked by the use of stronger, more ominous use of the verbs.
The final effect, however, of the three-part movement: whisper to sigh to wailing is unclear.
In the first line, the verb "whisper" might suggest a pleasant fragrance that permeates even the sky – and "YOU" – whoever the "YOU" may be. This unidentified character fills the speaker's breath. If it is not pleasant, at least it is not yet troublesome.
In the second stanza, the wind "sighs" – the word "sigh" is less certain, which marks the speaker's uncertainty – followed by the lines: "I wondered why I always sensed more was coming" - more what exactly? More wind? More feeling? More of the presence of "YOU" mentioned in the first stanza?
And in this second stanza, an ominous possibility is introduced with the phrases: "like a storm threatening" and "heavy in swollen clouds" – an uneasy emotion is sensed, following the fragrance whispering in the first stanza.
This stanza then moves to the most intense stanza – marked by the "wailing" wind – causing the speaker to tremble,
Also, the absence of "You" is described as "a fresh grief" and the air is tense with longing. – as if the threatening storm introduced in stanza two is now upon her, about to burst.
This three-part movement demonstrates the speaker's frame of mind – her emotional response – changing, building, intensifying with each development of the wind – blowing the scent of the sycamores.
But then the poem concludes with a short, three-lined, final stanza, which simply re-affirms that like the scent of the trees in the wind, "Your spirit hangs heavy in my life.
The ending is curious – the poem does not end with a climactic, powerful scene, perhaps a storm, which might have been anticipated by the previous three stanzas.
But neither do the three concluding lines of the poem negate that buildup – these lines don't really do anything but restate, confirm the poet's truth – that "Your absence – whomever YOU may be – lover, spouse, family member or friend – whomever, that absence "hangs heavy in her life."
The word "hangs" suggesting the humid air floating about her – filled with the scent of sycamores – is something that triggers the memory of loss and affirms, simply, matter-of-factly, the presence of the absent YOU.
This is a lovely, sensual, poem – effective for its intensity, but also for its incompleteness. The lyrical quality moves for what it says, and for what it refuses to say.
Thank you for listening to this program. I'm Ken Hada
POETS ON THE PLAINS HOST
Ken Hada is a poet and professor at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma where he has directed the annual Scissortail Creative Writing Festival for 20 years. Ken is the author of twelve collections of poetry, including his latest: Visions for the Night (to be released April 3, 2025), and Come Before Winter, from Turning Plow Press. His previous collection, Contour Feathers (Turning Plow Press, 2021) received the Oklahoma Book Award. Other works of his have been awarded by The Western Writers of America, The National Western Heritage Museum, South Central Modern Language Association and The Oklahoma Center for the Book, and featured on "The Writer's Almanac." In addition to his poetry, Ken remains active in scholarship, writing and publishing regularly on regional writing, literary ecology and multicultural literatures. The “Ken Hada Collection” is held at the Western History Collection Library at the University of Oklahoma. Ken Hada: https://kenhada.org/ or khadakhada@gmail.com
FEATURED POET
Jessica Isaacs’ poetry has been published in several journals and anthologies, most recently Cybersoleil, Sugarmule, and Elegant Rage. “Belly of the Whale” and “Tortoise” are poems from her current book deep August. She has presented her poetry at the National and Regional Pop Culture / American Culture Conferences, Scissortail Creative Writing Festivals, Full Circle Bookstore, Woody Guthrie Festivals, and Howlers & Yawpers Creativity Symposiums. She is an English and Humanities Professor at Seminole State College, and makes her home in Prague, Oklahoma with her one husband, two kids, two dogs, four cats, three fish, and a variety of snails. Co-editor and Founder at Dragon Poet Review, Isaacs was the recipient of the 2015 Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry for Deep August (Village Books Press, 2014). She has a BA in English, a BS in Mass Communication from East Central University and Masters in Creative Studies and Playwriting from the University of Central Oklahoma and an MFA in poetry from Oklahoma City University. https://www.facebook.com/jessicaisaacs.writerspage/
References
Poetry Bay - Online Poetry MagazineVenom, by Jessica Isaacs - The Ekphrastic Review
