Thursday, July 12, 2012

Petals

"These days are like blank paper, slowly being drawn on."
-Sahaj Jahson

Down at the bottom of the ocean
I write them down
streaming loose, a spill of silver

With my wild eye
the colors begin to change
tethered and chained, unleash

Tearing off sweet petals,
licking love from warm places
inside the womb, full of words

As we write
our lives will change,
the earnest of our hearts

Liquid cream with
honeyed milk,
my mouth begins to water

In the middle of night
I wake in fever, biting these words,
petals pressed into paper

Burn our mouth
ban from speech
I live my life on wings

In the light of oeuvre, poetic or prose
we write them down
and make things right

I place a star on top of a tree
an island in the sun,
the sky begins to glow

* Sahaj is my eight year old and the quote is a reference to art and our summer. 
Written for dVerse Poets, Ars Poetica-Poems about Poetry

28 comments:

  1. love the quote you start that with...and then the process of creating...on the bottom of the ocean...with the wild eye..great images..Liquid cream with
    honeyed milk... my fav...always love when i can taste poetry.. and this tastes just delicious..

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    1. Thank you, Claudia. There is so much heart and desire in language and I'm so happy that you were able to taste a bit of it. :)

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  2. love the quote by your 8 year old...wise...you have done well there...smiles....

    like the verse as well...i def wake in the middle of the night at times and write...even figured out how to write in the dark on the notebook by the bedside...at least well enough to decypher it in the morning...

    we write them and make things right...and as we write we change...how true...nice verse...

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    1. That's awesome, I like pitch black but words end up mangled in the morning. And then, writing and driving is also a challenge, but it has to happen sometimes :)...yes, I'm always a better person after I write.

      Thank you for the motherly acknowledgement. :)

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  3. The quote by your 8 years old is wise beyond their years.
    I'm not sure what I liked best but, so enjoyed the liquid cream and honey mix, sweeeeeet! Yes, I too love poetry that is so rich you can almost taste it. What a fabulous weave of words this all is.

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    1. Thanks Bren! He's our little lion heart. :) There is such a fulfillment after writing, especially when other talent stops by to tell you they can taste it. :-)

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  4. "With my wild eye
    the colors begin to change
    tethered and chained" ... I love the craziness involved in writing (seeing) poetry.

    "In the middle of night
    I wake in fever, biting these words" ... Yes, more crazy.

    "we write them down
    and make things right" ... Good golly, it is like taking your medication, to cut those words out of your brain. If you leave them in there, they'll drive you insane.

    "I place a star on top of a tree
    an island in the sun" ... Yes, yes. Pull the stars down and send dirt out to space. These are the places where poetry can play.

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    1. Exactly! Among the particles in space!

      Shawna, thank you for reading and taking it all apart. :)

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  5. beautiful writing ...like a fever, biting the words and glowing sun ~

    that quote is lovely ~

    cheers ~

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  6. "As we write
    our lives will change"

    SO true! And as always, so beautiful.

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  7. Writing does change our lives. I like the feverish coming on of words.

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  8. Woww.....no more words....to ruin the mood I have got....

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  9. I like the feeling of over powering fever in your poem.

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  10. tethered and unchained, unleashed...I love that line. Great poem!

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  11. You have a sagacious little girl, thank you for sharing her wisdom and yours, lovely!

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    1. This little one is actually a boy. :) Thanks for stopping by, Anna and sharing such a lovely comment.

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  12. What a wonderful collage of images, the art of poetry spilled across a life of painting with words. Beautiful.

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    1. Hi, thanks for stopping by and for presenting us with this wonderful prompt!

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