Rolling Like the Waves, and Brave Like the Sun

 

 

At a Loss For Words

—Poetry and Photos by Joyce Odam,

Sacramento, CA

THE LOVE LETTERS

the torn pieces fall to the floor
in a slow
deliberate flutter

the slow pieces spiral down
through the wet light of the room
which weeps for them

the frozen eyes have
read them for the
last time

this is where it all turns—   
this is where something feels
a certain power of destruction

the slow hands tear and tear
and take joy
in the tearing

the pieces make
a strange, indifferent pattern now,
upon the floor

 

 

 

Through The Night Hours

 

A shudder of blue branches

woven together in all their directions
none hostile to another
nor greedy for space,

letting the blue light through
from the lowering sky
the blue dark adding its tones,

the trunks of the trees
standing
in old patience,

and the little filtering sounds
that speak to the hidden creatures
or only to each other,

and all night the brambles touch
and touch in a tender blindness
through the night hours.

                                       
(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 8/30/17)

 

 

 

The Influence of Blue

 

THE INTERRUPTED DREAM

Under the influence of blue
a thought was seething—
insinuating its way in…

Under the influence of blue,
a word was breathing—
knowing it could have been true…

Under the influence of blue
a sound was grieving—
feeling it could have forced through…

you who were dreaming the thought,
you who would have spoken the word,
you who kept fading from the sound

—all are in the final stanza—
all you have to do is go back
into the blue wakening of the dream.

 

 

 

Urgency of Thought  

 

                                        

THE CRACK IN TIME

How do I not give you rhyme now,
suspend in the moment, a direction.

I guide you : words, time between
words, attendants attending.

I, at the measurement of this,  
write slowly, do not waste

or lose a word :
word,    word,    come to me,

love permeates, spills over,
grief before grieving,

oh, love,     help us,     help us,
you, focal point—receiver and giver

of yourself, hold my hand now
as I am holding yours.

_______________________

Words are far away from me today,

no fire or ice to say, nor color
worthier than gray.
I barely know
a thought,
or rush,
of something
to complete—
if only I could
rouse myself
from this morass—
this pit of gloom wherein
I find no art to give to life.

 

 

 

The Mind’s Potential

 

WORDLESS

Nothing leads me to words
       though you speak
       though I listen
       though I travel what you say
       and arrow nowhere . . .

How can this lead the wordless
       into eloquence, there is
       only the long line of silence
       thinning like a road
       into a receding horizon . . .

How can the shining silence
       reach the urgency of thought
       that struggles to transcend
       the locked mind that cannot form
       the words that poetry demands . . .

 

 

 

Into Meaning

 

WORD OFFERINGS

How will you find me
if I am a silence, leaning
into an explanation—
a bowl of oranges
glowing on a table—time
turning on the clock,
how will you recognize
me out of the mirror,
my old face made of shadows,
my eyes burning, what will
you say if I turn toward you
and wait for you to speak
after offering you these words . . .


(prev. pub. in Medusa’s Kitchen, 10/08)

 

 

 

In All These Places

 

POETRY 

What a mighty voice it requires in the poet, to 

keep his lines strange, and rolling like waves, 

and brave like the sun.            

                      —John Crowe Ransom


These words that celebrate from me,
these words that grieve,
these words that sing or weep . . .

These words that come from their
own places—of their own volition,
that I take, and call them mine . . .

How they cluster—how they form—
too fast, or too resistant—depending on
their own need or inspiration . . .

Which of us needs the other more—
my reach, or their release. Oh, Words,
words—we are the path to one another.
I will write while you speak.

                                       
(prev. pub. in Poets’ Forum, 1998) 

 

 

 

Grief Before Grieving

 

WORD AND ASSOCIATION
       Boring Word Poem by J. Odam


WORD:    other word    
          
WORD:    white

WORD:    narrow

NARROW WORD:  blue word      

                                                

BLUE:      more blue        

HARD WORD:  soft word

WORD:    word               
 
WHY?      why not?   

WHICH?    either
         
WHERE?   nowhere

____________________

Today’s LittleNip:

WORD BATTLES
—Joyce Odam

I shouldn’t have worn
armor
made of glass.

____________________

If this is still April, then we’re still in Nat’l Poetry Month, and Joyce has stepped up to the plate with Ars Poetica poems in the theme of Lost for Words, our Seed of Last Week. Thank you, Joyce—no one knows more about rassling the Muse and coming out a winner than you do!

Our new Seed of the Week is “Wandering”. What kind of wandering? Walking around the world? Sailing the seven seas? Or just woolgathering in your back yard? Are these good things or bad things? Tell us about wandering, and send your poems, photos & artwork about this (or any other) subject to kathykieth@hotmail.com. No deadline on SOWs, though, and for a peek at our past ones, click on “Calliope’s Closet”, the link at the top of this column, for plenty of others to choose from. And see our Form Fiddlers’ Friday for poetry form challenges, including those of the Ekphrastic type.

Yesterday I pointed out that I’ve just run the Kitchen links through the carwash, so they’re (for the most part) all spiffed up, with more updating to come. Check ‘em out—and don’t forget that all area poetry events are now listed under the Last Link at the top of this column: UPCOMING NORCAL EVENTS. ("Kitchen links": there’s a joke in there somewhere… "everything but the Kitchen link"…)

Speaking of wandering, check out this article: "The Art of Wandering for Writers & Business Artists" on Tracking Wonder at trackingwonder.com/art-wandering-writers-business-artists/. We can all use a little more wonder . . .  

____________________

—Medusa

 

 

 

 —Public Domain Photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos in this column can be enlarged by
clicking on them once, then clicking on the x
in the top right corner to come back to Medusa.