photo credit: Bob Smith, National Geographic
Wild Woman's heart lives
halfway between a cackle and a howl,
waiting for the moon to rise,
for the owl in the wildwood
to murmur a chook-chook-chook to the chicks
nestled beneath her feathery wing,
listening for the wolves to sing
as the darkling sky winks its million stars
across the mountains and back again.
The waves are singing their siren song,
somewhere too far, out where
the wilds things are.
My heart, remembering,
is waiting, too, like the moon awaits
its moment to rise,
like the owlet perches on the edge of its nest,
summoning the courage to fly,
like the shore anticipates the lip of the wave
advancing, retreating, and returning once more.
Wild Woman's heart lives
somewhere between a cackle and a howl,
displaced, too far
from where the wild things are.
contemplated as a response to Kerry's prompt at Real Toads, to write from our true poetic voice. The phrase Where the Wild Things Are comes from the title of a book of that title for children by Maurice Sendak.
My top favorite in a loooong time, I am also between, but without your deep connection to the wild and its songs mother to child and nature to nature. I love the sounds, the calls and counter calls--I even love the waiting! It's an expectant waiting as in Quaker prayer. It is a good part of living, this awareness, and it is your gift as a nature poet to write about it!
ReplyDeleteYou have captured her yearning perfectly. But, she is Wild Woman and will find a way.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
I am sorry that you are so far from your home - from the place that you love, and all the wild things. I absolutely love the Sendak book - not so much the movie actually. I to love the sounds of nature around me and to be immersed in all things living. I am going to Florida here ina few weeks and will go out into the Everglades. Oo, a new nature to explore and experience.
ReplyDeleteI do have faith that you will return soon to the place your heart desires to be!
ReplyDeleteSomewhere between a cackle and a howl.. how beautifully captured. Enjoyed this poem Sherry.
ReplyDelete"like the owlet perches on the edge of its nest,
ReplyDeletesummoning the courage to fly," and the "lip of the wave" Ah. I hope you do get to move back some day.
It is not only a yearning it is a belonging as well. Somewhere you feel safe and right. If only there were more wild men and women in the world. I could feel the longing in your words.
ReplyDeletesuch rich and precious meanings you've poured into the words like 'wait, rise and fly'...everything is already there in the heart of the Wild Woman...we hear you...
ReplyDeleteHey Sherry, I always enjoy your nature poems. There is plenty of sacredness and spirituality in them. thanks!
ReplyDeleteI love the refrain and I can picture that woman ..calm, strong, sure...i also liked the line - 'like the shore anticipates the lip of the wave
ReplyDeleteadvancing, retreating, and returning once more' - it felt like both a physical wave and a wave of knowing...peaceful Sunday to you Sherry xo
Loved this! The wild woman certainly does possess a kind heart which feels strongly about Nature and all its beings. Beautifully penned :D
ReplyDeleteLots of love,
Sanaa
Too often we are detached from not just reality but from our needed reality. From those things that nourish us.
ReplyDeleteFeels like the wild woman is in the city, far from the wild, but the heart yearns to be back in the wild, between the cackles, the hoots and the howls. Beautiful. Though the howl might scare the hell out of me, I feel. :)
ReplyDeletelove the repetition and the lament about being too far... too far from where a wild woman belongs...
ReplyDeletea sense of longing can be felt in those words.
ReplyDeleteyou'll be back where your heart is. :)
This is an amazing write Sherry - the sentiments and the sound are on point. The longing of the speaker is evident. A wild woman will always remain as a wild woman :)
ReplyDeletebetween the cackle and the howl...a signature piece. its so lovely return to such lines of familiar wildness.
ReplyDeletenature has so many beautiful and yes wild sounds. I much prefer them to the banging about of society.
ReplyDeleteHappy Sunday Wild Woman
Love, love, love the first two lines. And all the other lines, too; your wild woman poetry injects life into words and phrases. They make me want to go outside and run through the woods cackling. ♥
ReplyDeletethe Wild woman knows where she belongs and this is beautiful indeed
ReplyDeletethanks for dropping in at my Sunday Lime Sherry
much love...
You use such beautiful words, the names of animals, sounds. There really is a wildwoman within you, and she's beautiful maybe because she's between a cackle and a howl.
ReplyDeleteLiked it even more on this second reading. You will always be Wild Woman,
ReplyDeleteElizabeth
Oh my heart sings with this Sherry....the imagery you create here is soul aching....
ReplyDelete'Wild Woman's heart lives
somewhere between a cackle and a howl,
displaced, too far
from where the wild things are.'
I feel that pull to be closer to the wild.
Another wonderful Wild Woman poem! (When are you collecting them into a book?)
ReplyDeleteinteresting how some are aware of where they are at most times but still feel distant and displaced from the wilderness that surrounds.
ReplyDeleteat the moment of this recognition one is in the present
love this piece mi amiga
We should live in harmony with nature and let our own wild things out.
ReplyDeletePerfect juxtaposition of moments in our life. Bravo, again.
ReplyDeleteZQ
You nailed your poetic voice, Sherry. Lovely! And yes, I see a Wild Woman book, too.
ReplyDelete