Sign Inventory, Week 6

'The Mystery of the Great Blue Heron' by Dan Albergotti

The poet tries to make the heron a god,
but the heron does not care. The heron
wades along the shore, a dark body
absorbing light, patience stopping time.
The poet makes sounds like prayer,
but the heron is merely annoyed, stepping
into the air and pulling with broad wings.
The poet carefully records a sacred text,
but the heron has found a hidden pool
among the small trees and stands there
all day, staring coldly into the water,
far from the songs, from the blood,
from all the voices that beg for mercy.

Sign Inventory:

•  repeticious use of the word heron
• the way in which "The poet tries to make the heron a god" but only comes to find out that his character does not care, nor does the heron appear to have any desire to associate itself with the poet.
• interestingly, the heron seems to be finding ways throughout the poem to hide itself/get away from the poet (who is actually the one orchastrating/governing the agency of the heron).
• I also find that the poet tries to remain in an element of safe, practical, and restricted means; however, the author chooses to construct the heron as a binary character, one who wonders away from tradition, and is brave enough to venture outside into the realm of the unknown.