Living - Denise Levertov

Living
Denise Levertov

The fire in leaf and grass
so green it seems
each summer the last summer.

The wind blowing, the leaves
shivering in the sun,
each day the last day.

A red salamander
so cold and so
easy to catch, dreamily

moves his delicate feet
and long tail. I hold
my hand open for him to go.

Each minute the last minute.

---

Here the author brings a strong sense of transience to nature through images, first of vegetation, then of the salamander, and then even brings herself into the poem, thereby also drawing us in and making us feel the last line more strongly - Each minute the last minute.

While keeping this poem in mind, its techniques and its messages, here are some prompts that you may use to write a poem:

1. What elements in nature do you associate with transience? Describe one or a collection of them.
2. What interactions have you had with frail things in nature? Describe that interaction and its impact on you.
3. What does a season mean to you? A day? A minute? What images can represent these meanings to you?
4. Take a line from this poem and you that as your title or your first line. Write.
5. What else comes to mind as you read this poem? Write.