I. I grew up in poverty & not only did I not find anything noble about it, I never thought I was all that different from others..... I wondered, how would you know, just by looking, or listening, or noticing, where I came from or how I lived...
...in those dwellings where edges overlap & walls are skin, the space crawls upward and carves out a vertical horizon
amidst the dank, tin, boards, wire & squalor there are flowers of dignity, lines of pride, the clothes I wear that reveal & conceal who I am & where I dwell.
You think you know me.
Maybe, you do.
II. I hurt you it seems
all I do
is move words around in the service of some
elusive clarity
& even that movement
continues to offend
when I had hoped to express
gratitude & admiration
instead I dig the hole
deeper
than sky or sea
earth or fire
elemental & hopeful
I seek a grove
there, I'd lay down
the sound of trees
streams & rain
bearing witness
there, I'd bleed my motives
& if you chose
you could inhale the copper
scent & wonder
about the wisdom of Sequoias
& the risks of assumptions
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this piece came out of a writers' collective prompt... an image of an impossibly crowded and ramshackle slum which had lines of clean laundry and house top gardens visible at intermittent intervals.... it was quite compelling and evocative.
ReplyDeleteThis second verse is incredible to me. Especially I am drawn to the line including risks of assumptions.....to whom does this not apply.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this one.
Hugs
Linda
One can only "know" the first through experience.
ReplyDeleteThe second seems like a private communication.
When I finished reading I felt like a terrible wound had been both sustained and inflicted. My emotion was drawn in and rattled by this piece.
ReplyDeleteLinda-- nice to see you :) and thanks for the response to part II.... I was caught by the assumptions that so many people have about poverty and its antecedents and consequences
ReplyDeleteWM-- it is the case that living it does bring a perspective; as for the private communication, and as you probably know yourself, where this stuff comes from sometimes is anyone's guess
FF-- thanks for your words and sentiments.... now that I have reflected on your comment, I can see the Janus-like quality of the piece... thanks again for your insight
I like both, but the first one in particular is very moving. I like the 'flowers of dignity, lines of pride'. Excellent stuff.
ReplyDeleteMadame--- thanks so much; will be by your site soon as soon as my week of sheer madness ends...
ReplyDelete"if you chose
ReplyDeleteyou could inhale the copper
scent & wonder
about the wisdom of Sequoias
& the risks of assumptions "
S u b l i m e !
Pisces--- thanks for the comment; I have been taken by this notion of scent for a while now, and how it often gets me into words and sentiments that I might not have considered but which seem to work, somehow.
ReplyDeleteyeah, you're good
ReplyDeleteWalletscrap-- thanks for the visit and the comment; I will be dropping by your site as well!
ReplyDelete