Saturday, March 31, 2012

Elemental

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison,
Study of Nest (1994)

Note: I have linked this to Magpie Tales, as my Child of Earth poem does connect with the notion of a nest/nesting. I took the liberty of putting all four of my "element" poems on this post, along with some of our photos to perhaps make 160 lines of poetry seem less pretentious. Really, I just wanted to share these with Mag followers, as you have meant so much to me. Hope you enjoy Child of Earth, and Winds, Fire, and Waters, if you haven't read them. I think it fair to say they do reflect a rather intense study of my nest! 
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Child of Earth


From rock-ribbed, misty meadows
Where horned sheep safely grazed
While myriad solitary shepherd boys
Gazed heavenward and dreamed
Of a mythic distant land where each
Might claim a bit of his own ground
And work it by his leave, unfettered,
My forebears sallied forth in strength.

Not to Plymouth Rock or to Virginia,
But to Penn's luscious woodlands
And acres of soil so dark and fertile
One might well try to cook and eat it
Rather than bother planting crops.
Indeed, traditional grains thrived there,
But so, too, did old prejudices, pressures
And new, unsettling competitive stresses.


So my people took the Great Wagon Road
Up the storied Shenandoah Valley, onward
Through lofty gaps and carved gorges,
Turning down at length toward the knob
That still marks the way into Carolina,
And southwest to an open, rolling land
Described to them by other Deutsch men
Who had ventured to the Catawba River.

Along the South Fork, they farmed, milled,
Raised corn, fodder, hogs, sheep, cows,
Laying hens, turkeys, and draft horses, all
Tended by Lutheran sons and daughters.
Some learned to work the supple clay,
Turning and burning mugs, jugs, crocks,
Thriving in the new world they made;
Few chose to roam further westward.


Yes, am I a child of the Piedmont,
With its clod-strewn plowed fields,
Lush pastures and cattle grazing
Their way through slow, lazy days
Of hazy, stifling humidity and flies.
My blood is the color of its clay,
My heart kneaded and shaped
And fired in a groundhog kiln.

But my soul longs for mountains,
For ancient, resting Grandfather
And Black Mitchell, the backbone;
For cloud-shrouded Clingman's Dome
And Mount Le Conte draped in snow;
For mighty Pisgah and blue ridges,
And our beloved Craggy Pinnacle,
Dressed in Catawba Rhododendron.


There I am at peace, high above
The crucible in which I must live,
Giving myself away, word by word,
Ever pining for Appalachian solace.


Child of Winds


In my age of innocence, I freely embraced
The trades, riding a soft, sweet westerly.
Lovingly caressed at first by my friend,
Pulled in by the promise of exotic shores,
Naive in the ways of winds and tide,
I was swept along, unaware of danger
Building behind me, swelling water spout,
I was unprepared when it went cyclonic.

Laid waste, I swallowing bitter dregs.
My bloodshot, tear-stained eyes left me
Blinded; that twister was but an outlier
Of a raging, pounding apocalyptic storm.
The fearsome wall hit me, shoveling all
Before it, plowing furrows across
The fragile farmland of my young heart,
Ripping holes in my woven cotton soul.

I saw the decimation, seeming random,
Slaughter of ships great and humble,
Shattered, hardwoods splintered,
Pine laid low, so many matchsticks
Scattered about in the tempest's fury.
I was carried up, up, and out, anon:
Spewed forth and falling, screaming,
Thinking wind itself to be my enemy.

I dared not dream as I plummeted
That I might survive, live to sail
Again, though not so carefree,
But here I am at the windlass...
My heart flies high on the foremast,
Double-sheet bend secure, exposed,
Slapped by every passing fancy,
Be it breeze, gust, gale, or typhoon.


Still, the knot holds, and I endure,
My colors showing honest agony,
Even as they are whipped to and fro,
Child no more, I fetch yonder horizon.



Child of Fire




Wrought as winter's bright embers
Still glowed warm in the fireplace,
Refined in a hot red-clay forge,
Hammered flat on the harsh anvil
That defined my teenage years
And tempered quick by tragedy,
I became hard, cold, with an edge,
But I still know what it is to burn.

I am known to boil over, bubbling
Like so much gurgling pastel mud
In perking Yellowstone paint pots.
I have shot steam-spray rockets
Skyward, a brash young geyser,
With irregular, happy abandon.
A simmering, stewing sot, I am,
Quick to erupt, absolutely deadly.

I have spat napalm, shat fire alive,
Pissed blazing kerosene streams
Upward in raging incendiary arcs
Onto unsuspecting heaps of tinder,
And I have felt scalding salt-tears
Scorch my sooty, puffy cheeks
As I wept over beloved bridges
I had wantonly sacked and ashed.


 I can be an inferno incarnate,
With tin dipper melting in hand,
Trying and failing ever to fetch
Just one healing, quenching sip
From the waiting, loving pool
Which longs to come to my aid
As my soul pops and crackles:
Son of flames, I am consumed.


Child of Waters




What magnetic moonlit tidal tug
Is it that pulls me off beam,
Sends me downstream, reeling,
Ever descending, rushing through
Rock-strewn, sand-barred creeks
Into gushing, swelling rivers...
Floating, fallen-timber rudderless,
Swept headlong to deeper waters?

Perhaps an accident of birth--
My winter-born sister Alaska
Speaks of liquid crystal, flowing:
Iron-brittle, creeping glaciers,
Gold-flecked beds, melt-floods,
Plowing, charging, galloping...
Fulminant meeting engagements
In resilient sounds and shallow seas.

Summer-born Hawaii whispers
Of fearsome typhoon and tidal wave,
Lead-white snow-capped peaks
And rain-drenched emerald slopes,
Vertigo-high waterfalls plunging,
Teeming pools and rivulets receiving...
Volcanoes and black sand beaches
Stranded by Everest-deep ocean.

I, too, am marked by waters,
Born a Scorpio, for good and ill,
Familiar with glittering frosty mornings,
Drifting snow, cumulonimbus towers,
Ear-splitting, rain-gorged supercells...
I have seen swirling, green-sky terror
And sat insomniac through hurricanes,
Two dark, one white, and grinned.

I am drawn, polarized, once again
To deep water, to saline amniotic fluid
From whence I came, a storm unnamed,
Tropical depression, seeking healing balm,
Calming, renewal of my formidable core
Until my own lion's roar again resounds,
Drowning out the screaming, searing,
Sticky cacophony that hounds me.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

A Stormy Offering



Child of Winds

In my age of innocence, I freely embraced
The trades, riding a soft, sweet westerly.
Lovingly caressed at first by my friend,
I was unprepared when it went cyclonic.

I was laid waste, swallowing bitter dregs.
My bloodshot, tear-stained eyes left me
Blinded; that twister was but an outlier
Of a raging, pounding apocalyptic storm.

The fearsome wall hit me, shoveling all
Before it, plowing furrows across
The landscape of my red clay heart,
Ripping holes in my woven cotton soul.

I saw the decimation, seeming random
Slaughter, ships great and humble
Shattered, hardwoods splintered,
Pine laid low, so many matchsticks.

Scattered, smothered in the tempest,
I was carried up, up, and out, anon:
Spewed forth and falling, screaming,
Thinking wind itself to be my enemy.

I dared not dream as I plummeted
That I might survive, live to sail
Again, if never to be fully healed,
But here I am at the windlass.

My heart flies high on the foremast,
Double-sheet bend secure, exposed,
Slapped by every passing fancy,
Be it breeze, gust, gale, or typhoon.

Still, the knot holds, and I endure,
My colors showing honest agony,
Even as they are whipped to and fro,
Child no more, I fetch yonder horizon.



Tuesday, March 20, 2012



Broken
By Lemuel Crouse

It is broken and I cannot fix it
On my own and so I cry...and cry.
I have pulled back some layers,
Tried to see what lies beneath,
But it is beyond my understanding,
This machine that runs my world.

I clumsily prod with a spanner,
Nudging random bolts, hoping
To help more than hurt, wishing
I knew just what to do to set it
Again in motion, flying, whirring,
Happily dancing with love of life.

I am like a gearbox, broken by
A thrown cog, bollox, busted,
Locked up, going to rust fast.
I just want to pull the blanket
Over my head like lush sod,
Until the grinding scream stops.


This is a Magpie Tale. To read more or to participate, click here!

Sunday, March 11, 2012

A Blazing Magpie



Child of Fire

Wrought as winter's embers
Still glowed in the fireplace,
Refined in a red-clay forge,
Hammered flat on the anvil
That was my teen years
And tempered by tragedy,
I became hard, cold, edgy,
But I know what it is to burn.

I have boiled over, bubbling
Like so much pastel mud
In a Yellowstone paint pot,
Shot steam-spray rockets
Skyward, young geyser, I,
With irregular abandon;
Simmering, stewing sot,
Quick to erupt, deadly.

Yes, I have shat fire alive,
Pissed kerosene streams
In a raging incendiary arc
On awaiting heaps of tinder,
And felt scalding salt-tears
Scorch sooty, puffy cheeks
As I wept over bridges
I had sacked and ashed.

Today I am inferno incarnate,
Tin dipper melting in hand
As I try and fail once more
To fetch just a healing sip
From the waiting, loving pool
Which longs to quench me.
My soul pops and crackles,
Son of flames, I am consumed.


This is a Magpie Tale. To read more, or to participate, click here!