Tuesday, July 13, 2010

COMPLICATED PLOTS

The Narrows, Stamp Falls
May 18, 2004

Complicated plots.....
the one we tended on Mother's Day,
my parents' remains housed
under a plaque reading 'Together Forever',
the love story that pain and grief
just could not sever,
my stepfather
planted alone,
farther away.

Or the plot of their lives,
even more complicated
with joy and tears,
moseying together
through all the shambling years,
("I'll Get By")
like obedient donkeys
who sometimes got
the stubborn urge
to fly.

Complicated plots.....
me and my children
playing out
generations of dysfunction
but surviving,
nay, better than that,
with grins on our faces,
thriving,
midst the formidable, the difficult,
the unrecognized heroic,
with hang-in-there tenacity,
(hey, we're stoic),
much cackling, disbelieving
sudden laughter,
the legacy of humor
that lingers
after.

Complicated plot:
lacking a compass,
I did roam
some highly peculiar
pathways
before finding the
Road Home.

If my life was fiction,
"none of this is believable!"
you would say.
But
I'm not allowed a rewrite,
to live it a better way,
so I'll have to let
the whole damn story
stand.
You'll recognize
the thread running through it,
strand by strand,
the way a shadow
plays with light
upon the land.

Next?
Am I "there" yet?
A few peaceful chapters
before I go to sleep?
Or a stopping place
where I rest before
I make
one more
great leap?
Where will this earth-suit
finally come to a
full. stop.
(My spirit cries "Tofino!",
the land where I'm most free,
so I can lie forever more
beside the pounding sea,
roaring in full fury
upon that wilder shore,
hear the winter wind howl and lash
among the trees,
an eagle circling,
dropping one lone feather
down
to me.)

An even more complicated plot:
who will pay the Final Bill
at my demise?
I, the master bill payer
and helper
all my life,
with money
have been generous, not wise.
Unable to accumulate
the Passage
to my final reward
up in the skies,
I have to ask
whatever listening gods and angels:
can I take the Budget Plan
to Paradise?

I will leave little
in material goods
to say that I was here.
But be of excellent
and unfailing cheer,
for in all that really matters,
I'm living rich:
a wealth of books and music,
a clean, green sweep of lawn,
the gift of Time,
more precious now
the limits have been drawn,
(also, the past,
all the more dear
for being
gone.)

When you miss me,
come and find me.
I'll wrap the clues
in all my stories,
all my poems,
all the happiness
I had
that I can never
lose,
in a million photos
of my one great love,
the sea.
In all these things,
you can remember
me.

13 comments:

  1. Wow, this really brought a lot of emotions up! Sad, happy, flashbacks and such! You weave the reflections of a life lived, with the thread of love,hope and tenderness~

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  2. Thanks, Ellie. Every poet needs a reader like you!:)

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  3. Nothing is lost in this world, least the sense of wonderment and the feeling like you are on an inner journey you know not where and why, sherry blue and thats the reason why I started following your blog because some of the feelings you have been articulating so well in these spaces seem so familiar!

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  4. I am so awed by the fact that someone on the other side of the world is reading my words. Yes, a sense of wonder, and the beauty of nature, must be what gets us through this life. I will write on that sense of wonder soon.......thank you, thank you, for being there!

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  5. Moseying together through all the shambling years... I really liked that. Very poetic!

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  6. Sherry,
    Fantastic poem! What beautiful words.
    Pamela

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  7. life is complicated,
    true, no one is allowed to relive it, but we believed what you write.
    beautiful imagery,
    apt poem.

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  8. Dear Sherry,
    You had me in tears. Please don't think of leaving us, to find that plot!
    A most beautiful read Sherry.
    You are truly gifted with words.
    Best wishes, Eileen :)

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  9. Sherry I have some problems with this poem. I tried to quote you..but...THERE WAS TOO MANY AMAZING QUOTES..this seemed like a huge Outro to a great introduction...and I really wished it were longer (and it wasn't short, but even longer to soothe thy eyes)- wow....I can sleep good tonight.

    :-)

    Thank you.

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  10. Remembering the important things in life ... compellingly written.

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  11. Very nicely done, Sherry. Lovely and heart-rending for sure.

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  12. Very good write tugged at all the emotional strings...thanks for sharing

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  13. Thanks, kids, for your lovely comments. No worries, I am hoping I have lots more time on this old planet still - and the next realm had sure better have great scenery like this one! This one was a walk down memory lane............

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