I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

13 October 2014

First Steps on a New Path

We four women, old friends and new,
drove to the Castle in Spring sunshine.

‘You are a Way Shower, aren’t you?’
said my newest friend, making me glad.

We stood in the smoke from a big pot
of burning eucalyptus leaves.

The Elders told us the true history
passed down through the grandmothers.

‘We came from the stars, but we were made
here, long ago, the first people.

‘This land is far more ancient than you know
because you have been told lies.’

The custodian of the land we stood on
declared us adopted.

Now we too have responsibilities
to the land and to the truth.

We all closed our eyes while Priscilla sang
the Song of the Beginning.

























31 Poems in 31 Days (from Poewar / Writer's Resource Center). Prompt: syllabic verse.  Each verse of this poem is a 17-syllable 'American sentence' (a form devised by Allen Ginsberg) divided into two lines. I am also trying for something I call 'ghazal-type' in that it's somewhat discontinuous, with gaps in the narrative, like a ghazal (indeed a quasi-ghazal). Hence this is my 'ghazal-type 17-2' invention. (I already invented 'ghazal-type 17-3' — and yes, I know it's a cumbersome label, but at least it gives some indication of what it purports to describe.)

4 comments:

  1. wow amazing and wonder if we all came from stars?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would seem so, Vandana. Our teachers added that, as they were the original people, everyone else came from them; we are all one family.

      Delete

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