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Sunday, December 2, 2012

In the Bracken

Port Alberni back yard owl

If ever you would
speak with any tree,
come walking in the forest
here with me.
I'll show you the wild mushroom 
and the root,
but where the ancients gather,
set no boot.

If you would speak
with nature spirits wild,
you must maintain the heartbeat
of a child,
learn riversong and 

mountain chasm deep.
You must commune with angels
in your sleep.

As you step lightly on
the pungent moss,
and feel the leaves
the winter wind doth toss,
let your spirit fly away
among the trees.
It will return
upon the morrow's 
breeze.

I go into the forest
dark and deep,
every night after
I fall asleep,
become a woodland 
guardian, reborn
I do not want to leave
when it is morn.

Last night my spirit
fought as a black wolf,
against four brown wolves
on the forest floor,
This told me
that a battle lies before,
my spirit having 
recognized
its door.

Come with me.
I will show you secret groves,
moss-hung and ancient
in this stand of pine.
Deep in the bracken,
where the  hoarfrost glows,
the Old Ones are singing Home
this heart of mine.


The Sunday Mini-Challenge at Real Toads is to write a form poem, after the style of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I managed a form poem of sorts, which insisted on its own rhythm and meter, and will post it here as an exercise which  could still use some work. Last stanza has changed a few times and isn't right yet . :)


41 comments:

  1. Hi Sherry! Super cool poem - this is actually one of my favorites of yours - it has a very Rossetti feel - a lovely lilting swing to it, and that fantastical element which seems to belong to them. Thanks. k.

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  2. This is just beautiful, Sherry. It is totally you, with an overlay of Rossetti. I love the last three lines.
    K

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  3. You do a good Rossetti style, Sherry! And what beautiful subject matter you chose.

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  4. The tone and content sings to my spirit, Sherry and I actually like the way you managed the form of it...it's excellent my friend...great writing!

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  5. "Super cool" is right.
    It reads like an invocation in the soothing iambic pentameter that I will always feel the most comfortable with.

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  6. Wonderful photo and the poem definitely has the feel of this artist--plus you did all those every other line rhymes! Good job.

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  7. Ah, so beautiful. And I particularly like your closing lines:

    Deep in the bracken:
    where the hoarfrost glows,
    the Old Ones
    are singing home
    this heart of mine.

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  8. This is gorgeous! You have captured the spirit and heart of the rainforest perfectly! What a wonderful photo of the owl too!

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  9. Well Done Sherry!
    I love "deep in the bracken...."
    This is amazing and so true to form!
    Yes, lovely :D

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  10. I'm with Other Mary, that line places me deep in the forest each time I repeat the line.

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  11. I would dearly love to take a walk through your forests with you, Sherry.

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  12. I don't think it needs work, as you say it had its own rhythm and its wonderful

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  13. I didn't even noticed the form, the message overwhelmed me ~ Stunning lines from first to last ~

    I breathe this deeply Sherry ~

    Have a lovely week ~

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  14. I'm not a rhyme fan but liked this one! Though it does sound like you're getting ready to die, which I don't like at all! Who took the photo? Is it a Barred Owl?

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  15. Sherry, honestly you're too modest. This is a beautiful poem. It's one of those that instantly connects with the subconscious world of magic. I love it.

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  16. "If you would speak
    with nature spirits wild,
    you must maintain the heartbeat
    of a child,
    learn riversong and
    mountain chasm deep.
    You must commune with angels
    in your sleep."....yes, yes, yes!

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  17. Never doubt or deny your internal rhythm and meter, Sherry; it is always right and true. This ode to the forest is precious. It is, to those who adore her, an ode to the poetess. ;-)

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  18. I don't care whether it fits the form it was supposed to fit or not.. this is superb Sherry!

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  19. Sherry, this is beautifully sing-song-y, like a lullaby. i found myself humming along. your opening lines are magnificent. yay!

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  20. A lovely and mesmerizing walk through the nature :)

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  21. nice...i'd take that walk with you...i talk with trees...smiles...you capture a bit of their song in your words...a woodland guardian eh? i can see that...smiles.

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  22. I always found forests to be magical, and I liked touching trees, hearing them.. and I like how you talk with respect to nature here.

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  23. I like the beginning two lines and how they pull the reader in for a story and a place. Thanks.

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  24. Beautifully done with an excellent message.

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  25. I love the poems best which insist on their own form, especially when the path they take is through the woods.

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  26. Second time again, wow to the whole piece ~

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  27. Oh Sherry! Must you foresee the struggle to come? I will keep this poem, which in this part is resigned but is otherwise lyrical and open and magical. It will be in my "Poems I cannot live without file." You have met and surpassed Emerson's essay "On Nature." Bravo.

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  28. I like this very much

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  29. This is so beautiful, Sherry. I love the way you express this eternal bond with nature. Stunning!

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  30. the rhythm is so strong and your images conjure so many magical visions of the forest I really like the line about communing with angels in your sleep.

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  31. I will show you secret groves,
    moss-hung and ancient
    in this stand of pine.
    Deep in the bracken,
    where the hoarfrost glows,

    I think I have been transported! This is my first time reading this lovely poem - glad decided to resurrect it!

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  32. Sherry, I do believe this, that one cannot truly commune with nature and its secret places without a childlike innocence. Thank you for the reminder.

    The final stanza, well, I'd like to eat it for dessert!! Love, Amy

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  33. Beautiful poem. Lovely rhythm and gorgeous words. I loved the part where you ask of communion with angels in sleep. Whew, too good. :)

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  34. Beautiful.. loved the flow, very nice.
    I esp liked the second stanza:)

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  35. I remember this beautiful descriptive poem, Sherry. Wonderful to have an opportunity to read it again. The second to last stanza really spoke to me this time around.

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  36. wow, stunning piece of work.
    loved the rhymes in the poem.

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  37. splendid shamanic rhymes.loved this piece.

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  38. Love the voice you adopted here, Sherry. The wild in you speaking to the wild in me and eliciting a strong response.

    Elizabeth
    http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/fishing-for-memories/

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  39. Will try this again. Love the voice you adopted here Sherry. The wild in you speaks clearly to the wild in me. Thank you,

    Elizabeth
    http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/fishing-for-memories/

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