Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Words Like Teacups



From the beginning,
I have been a wanderer
through forest, river valley and  shore,
and through the lines of poems
that claimed me as their own.

There are quiet, grey days
when I put words down like teacups,
absent-mindedly,
after the tea has cooled.

Sometimes the words are songlines,
singing the world alive,
leading me home
to the wild.

From time to time the words fall silent,
perched like sparrows on a high-wire,
poised to fly away,
perhaps forever.

Then there are the days
when Wild Woman stirs in her dusty lair,
uttering bone truths
that startle me awake.
Humbly, 
I write them down,
emerging
from the poem
transformed.



and for Brendan's prompt at Real Toads: Transformation : what is it about poetry that opens a bag of winds?


26 comments:

  1. I love the suggestion that the poem transforms the poet, not the other way around. And the teacup image. I have written my fair share of such poems.

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  2. Oh Sherry. This poem is truly a miracle. Mine is so flat and without emotion but yours sings.

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    1. Not one bit, Toni! I was just there and I love your poem.

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  3. I absolutely love this!💜 Especially; "Sometimes the words are songlines, singing the world alive, leading me home to the wild."💜

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  4. Just when I think you can not stir me further you reach down to find another truth so subtle that it raises the hairs on the back of my head. From teacups, songlines, sparrows and old wolves, my dear, you have described the gifts of God!

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  5. Yes!! It is if the poem is just waiting, like a favorite pet waiting at the door to be let out, or in. Perhaps they always there, just waiting for us to find them. Magical.

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  6. 'Bone truths'. Damn. I wish I had written that.

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  7. I wish that I could also come up with such fine lines... but some days i have to live with tea-cups....

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  8. Great when words get transformed into poems :)

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  9. when Wild Woman stirs in her dusty lair,
    uttering bone truths
    that startle me awake.

    oh yeah, oh yeah - uttering bone truths - blessings in offerings that we receive - then translate, transcribe - and as Kerry mentioned, in the process, we too are transformed and changed, influenced by the words -

    great reading/writing Sherry
    🍃Pat

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  10. Oh! this is a most interesting transformation of ideas to poetry

    much love...

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  11. A wonderful write, all the different and wondrous ways that poems come to you, and they do bloosum for all us.

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  12. its fascinating how every poet draws from what is around them... each in their own unique way

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  13. Oh, this is so beautiful, and says it perfectly – from the teacups set down absent-mindedly to the transformative power of Wild Woman's "bone truths".

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  14. I was charmed from beginning to end, but you know I adore that teacup image. Firstly, because it is so damn true for me too, and secondly, because tea. :D

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  15. Fine tribute to both to beginnings and the voices which arose there and remain your great strengths.

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  16. This is such a stunning poem, with "bone truth" - sometimes one needs to sip warm tea and the words will come in dreams.

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  17. Oh that’s just wonderful, Sherry. Terrific. K.

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  18. How I love the Wild Woman stirring in her dusty lair!! Also love the tea cup image in the poem and the photo.

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  19. Your words of words are beautiful thoughtful words Sherry. I wish I could think like that, never mind write so. A brilliant write.
    Anna :o]

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  20. As always, you sing the wilderness song, the song of the mind meeting the woods and as ell as the music, the great silences that can bring--especially love the second stanza, Sherry.

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  21. So so beautifully done, Sherry! Spot on! ...a poet's soul is filled with words that have no meaning until she sits down and pours them through her heart like a sieve. This is what writing is to a poet!Brilliant write...

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  22. A true poet's true confession, Sherry! Wonderfully told!

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  23. Oh there is such power when we write, when the poem spilled from our ink transforms us.

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