Thursday 28 January 2021

The Lost Dances of Cranes

Your fields are empty now.
Only your ghosts dance
while cranes of another kind
dance cities into being.

All that remain of you are
a fading crackle of your energy
and some grainy video footage

that people in the new cities
will watch to marvel
at the wonders the world

once held.



The International Crane Foundation works to protect crane species across the world.

**

I'm reposting this poem, because I recently discovered some online educational resources relating to it! Several years ago, this poem was included in an English language and literature text book in India, which has recently been republished as New Gulmohar Reader 8. If you are an Indian student who is using this text book, please note - I cannot help you with homework questions that relate to interpreting this poem though I can answer other questions about my poetry in general. 

You can see the page of the text book with the poem and questions on the Big Slate website.

Read more about the poem

A line by line critique of this poem on the enotes website

A discussion on my poem on the Brainly website

A discussion of the poem on the Eye and Contacts website.

A 20 minute Youtube lecture on my poem here, though the accompanying biography of me is wildly inaccurate.

37 comments:

Scot said...

good one Juliet--I saw two storks along the road in some collected rain water in a low spot this past week. Just passing through I suppose. I never have seen that here--felt honored.

Janice Thomson said...

How sad this is happening to so many of nature's creatures.
Touching poem about this increasing problem.

polona said...

apoignant account of stark reality... the cranes of that other kind appear to multiply exponentially here...

Noah the Great said...

:D

Anonymous said...

Oh, Juliet, this is so sad. So many beautiful species are now a distant memory, with many more joining them. What kind of a world will it be without them?

Stan Ski said...

Development - is it really progress?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Scot - thanks, I'd love to see storks and yes if I did I'd feel honoured...

Janice - thanks and yes it happens more and more

Polona - we've got a lot of the other cranes here too, we can see several from our flat...

Noah - thanks

Selma - a vastly denuded world, I'm sure, its tragic

Stan - development isn't always progress, you're right

Anonymous said...

There is one Crane species that is doing well and that is the Sandhill Crane. They are very numerous in Florida from wild areas to city parks. I've even seen them raising young in business parking lots and golf courses.

Unknown said...

The comparison between the birds and the construction cranes is very well done. I like the image.

Pirate Princess said...

Very sad - hard to live with.

Anonymous said...

this gave me shivers.

x said...

This poem has its own crackle of energy flowing with an irresistible
rhythm to its sad conclusion

Anonymous said...

Sometimes we dwell on the negatives too much. In many ways we are responsible for destruction of nature. However, I feel that not lways. Nature too does not do badly to harm itself.

Maybe it is a start of a new world? Who knows..

tunneled view

Crafty Green Poet said...

Gautami - I think humans are responsible for damaging nature far more than nature herself is responsible for the damage - certainly in terms of large scale destruction.

I try to balance positive with negative in an overall sense in this blog. Yes some posts are negative but others are positive.

Jan said...

i love the symbolism here. we have way to many cranes of the other kind where i live; wherever there's a tree, a crane comes by and takes it out to build a strip-mall or something...very, very nice, but sad poem:)

Manish Edida said...

I like this poem best

Manish Edida said...

I like this poem best

Unknown said...

Hello Juliet,
It was just an accident to read your poem `The Lost Dances of Cranes´Few lines yet powerful with naive truth! As a teacher to my students,I know how much I have to be responsible to them to render the poem.Piercing the heart into many! Let us be the protectors not the protesters of the Nature!

Unknown said...

Good one ma'am...i am one of those students who are studying your poem..it would be good if you could include a little bit of your personal information( Date of Birth,Nationality)
i must say..that is a part of our homework :)

Unknown said...

Good one ma'am...i am one of those students who are studying your poem..it would be good if you could include a little bit of your personal information( Date of Birth,Nationality)
i must say..that is a part of our homework :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Theres

I was born in Manchester, United Kingdom, 1966, I live in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

Anonymous said...

Hi...I would really appreciate if you would answer this question as soon as possible. My question is what are your achievements. This is a part of my homework. Your poem was truly inspiring. Thank you for taking your precious time to answer my question. :)

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Prishka, I've had two poetry pamphlets published - Bougainvillea Dancing and Unthinkable Skies. I'm working on my first novel.

Navjit Debnath said...

I'm another student...can you share your influences to write poems?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Navjit, thanks for visiting. Nature and environmental issues are two of my biggest influences for writing poetry. I also find it very useful to observe everything in life, because sometimes inspiration can come from unexpected places!

Unknown said...

the poem is very good but also teaches us to protect our mother nature not to destroy mother nature......

Unknown said...

thepoemisverygoodbutitalsoteachesustobeprotectorsofnaturenotbethedestroyersofnature

Unknown said...

the poem is very good but it also teaches to be protectors of nature rather than being destroyers of nature

Unknown said...

the poem is good but teaches us to be protector of mother nature and not destroyers of mother nature

Unknown said...

its true we need to protect the endangered animals such as panda and cranes are one of them so i think its is also a part of it and weather we love animals or not it dosent matter we need to save them as they are also like u a living thing i take this pledge to save them forever come lets take this pledge ...

Unknown said...

Hey Juliet,
Nice blog!! ITS TRUE TO PROTECT ENDANGERED ANIMALS!!

Unknown said...

What is the exact tone of the poem?

Crafty Green Poet said...

Dear Kamayani - if you are reading this as a student, I think it is part of your work to decide for yourself what the tone of the poem is!

Armaan said...

Hi i am a big fan of your writing and our school uses your poem in every textbook..
please reply to my comment

Crafty Green Poet said...

Hi Amaan, that's great to know, thanks for commenting on my blog.

Carruthers said...

Love the poem. I saw there was a book/film title the other day, The Language of Cranes. I wondered if it referred to the birds or to subtle left/right up/down movements of the tall, steel kind, after everyone's gone home.

Crafty Green Poet said...

Thanks Carruthers! There's a book called The Lost Language of Cranes which I read many years ago, and the cranes are the tall steel kind