Peace

A Chiasm in Five

Loud shudder. A shaking. Gut-drop dread

rakes the space with shelf-spill and thrashing.

A threshing, sifting through a sieve

to a settling reprieve.

Peace.

Placid surface.

Ripples radiate outward.

White-capped waves overturn tumble

in lines of thunderous churning tidal release.

This chiastic poem begins with the experience of a sudden violent earthquake and moves toward the peace of the aftermath, and then moves onward again from still water to the wild chaos of the wave-pounding surf. The aim of the poem is to give the reader a sensation of peace in between these two imagined experiences of turbulence, and to try and do so in very short order.

The chiastic paired line are as follows (for easy comparison):

5A: Loud shudder. A shaking. Gut-drop dread

5B: in lines of thunderous churning tidal release.

4A: rakes the space with shelf-spill and thrashing.

4B: White-capped waves overturn tumble

3A: A threshing, sifting through a sieve

3B: Ripples radiate outward.

2A: to a settling reprieve.

2B: Placid surface.

Center: Peace.