Linking with Shay's Word Garden Word List --Joy School
Come join us!
I am a poet and a mystery,
Each day myself as in a glass I see:
Creator and created fused in one,
Sun that makes night and night that drinks the sun.
~John Gould Fletcher
Certain poems are sharp like an iceberg
floating on an
evaporated sea,
whispering sounds of the ocean from a conch shell
with a message as loud as a scream.
They take us somewhere far yet close as home
with the soft touch
of a special lover,
then tell us how to fix our deepest ache,
like a devoted
mother.
They conjure up my brother’s hardest punch
or my father’s long-lost voice.
Some poems carry the whole weight of lifetimes,
yet the lightness of a single choice.
A poem can transfix or move us,
it can narrow, or expand the views we hold;
give us spring’s spray of flowers
in the midst of
winter’s dismal cold.
They stir the cauldron of memory,
like a witch crafting a certain spell,
leading us to forgotten secrets
that we never planned to tell.
Then they open us like a wrapped-up gift
with a remembrance made brand new,
again, witnessing the birth of grandchildren
and the graveside service that came too soon.
I keep an empty vase in the kitchen
that once held the flowers for your grave.
Poetry has the power to place it back in my hands
holding the newness of grief, I knew that day.
The empty vase, those closing lines, really speak to me, Carrie.
ReplyDeleteWhat a vivid and emotive poem - so beautifully expressed and expertly crafted. Poetry will indeed fill an empty vase - Jae
ReplyDeleteIndeed, writing can conjure up anything--any person, place, emotion, or message, and that is the magic of it!
ReplyDeletePoetry can conjure so many things as you so beautifully and poetically expressed.
ReplyDeleteYour artistic, poetic, expression is one I am grateful to read.
A pure pleasure to read, Carrie, the purest, because it's words bring all the power of poetry to bear upon our hearts. Beautiful.
ReplyDeletePoetry is the cauldron of emotion and experience, and each poet stirs up something unique to them from that mix. I especially like "...they open us like a wrapped-up gift.." or perhaps, like an autopsy, sometimes. This is a powerful and moving piece Carrie.
ReplyDeleteI feel a calm, introspective vibe when I sit down to write ... that can certainly morph into frustration if 'nothing comes.' I love how you described 'YOU'.
ReplyDeleteYou have really shown all that poetry can do in such a wonderful way! Beautiful.
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