Mind Gloss
David Hedges
Mind in its purest play is like some bat
That beats about in caverns all alone,
Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
Not to conclude against a wall of stone.
—Richard Wilbur, from “Mind”
Mind in its purest play is like some bat
That magically connects with knuckleballs.
No matter what the pitching staff contrives,
Changeup, slider, inside curve, the calls
Result in singles, doubles, triples, drives
Across the outfield fence that knock the hat
Off some poor unsuspecting fan who sprawls
The asphalt, all aghast. The pitcher strives
To fry the batters in a pan of fat.
Mind in its purest play is like some bat
That beats about in caverns all alone,
More like a horde of happy-hour drunks
That beats about in taverns, or a batch
Of cracker-barrel clowns, a bunch of monks,
Pure intellection at a coffee klatch
Replete with undercut and overtone,
Final exams that everybody flunks,
Leading scholars, in a fit, to scratch
Advancement from their list of goals. The drone
That beats about in caverns all alone,
Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
What targets to home in on, thrives on fear;
The weave and flitter draw a steady stream
Of ready answers, none of which is clear.
Prescient ones are poised to skim the cream;
Resplendent to their heart’s content, they flit
About the blackest air until their Lear
Jets’ landing gears explode—a primal scream
On impact after guidance systems quit—
Contriving by a kind of senseless wit
Not to conclude against a wall of stone.
Mind’s more a metaphor for catcher’s mask,
Deflecting fouls that otherwise might force
Professors to object, and take to task
Doubtful similes for changing course:
Wading knee-deep in the Twilight Zone,
Benighted, tippling from a pocket flask,
Concocting gobbeldygook without remorse.
Mind plots with grace to overthrow the throne,
Not to conclude against a wall of stone.
Poet Bio
David Hedges has placed poems with Poetry, Measure, Poet Lore, and others. His book, “Prospects of Life After Birth: Memoir in Poetry and Prose,” appeared in 2019. He is past president of the Oregon Poetry Association, and serves on the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission. He co-founded the Oregon Poetry Collection at the University of Oregon’s Knight Library, and received the 2003 Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award for his contributions to the state’s literary life.
Judge’s Comments – Lynn Otto
Thank you to all who submitted poems. Reading them while practicing social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, I felt connected to humanity in all corners of Oregon and beyond. I was surprised to see that the three poems that rose to the top of the stack for me all made use of patterns of rhyme and rhythm. “Mind Gloss” (four stanzas that follow the rhyme scheme abcbcabcaa, each beginning and ending with a line from a stanza of Richard Wilbur’s “Mind”) feels like a carefully made gift, not some fussy frou-frou thing, but the result of a real craftsperson’s sensitivity to language and high regard for the reader. The poem’s form suits its subject, a playful, musical riffing. These poems’ images are strong and memorable; and each poem felt consistent in quality from beginning to end.