In this place, the mothers speak a bitter, blooded language, their whispers of why carry through forests and over mountains to the cool blue seas they can only picture
but imagine following clouds in sublime harmony, as if the air breathed hope
at night they listen for the moon’s song as she recalls light–
it is there somewhere in time, above, beneath, around, floating like the fiddler’s tune, leading them to sanctuary in a bright bird-dawn.
The Oracle’s Original set gave me words of doom and violence (but also the moon, fiddle, and light), while the nature set, gave me words of peaceful beauty. Both sets gave me “if.” I thought of Ukraine as I began writing, but also what is going on all over the world as authoritarian rule is growing, and how such things have happened over and over again.
And so, we rested, away from the snow, inside that hut by the fire’s glow, but stories cannot be chewed with teeth though they help assuage our terror and grief.
Where is Momma, I whimper, and wipe my eyes, She’s looking for us, but my sister cries though she hides her face, I see a tear and realize she must also fear—
What do we do? Where do we go? Back to the cold, leave our tracks in the snow? It’s dark, Little One, let us sleep, there’s a blizzard out there, the snow’s too deep,
for us to go or soldiers to come. We’ll melt some ice and savor the crumbs– wish and pretend we have a feast! We’ll hear no shots from west or east.
And so, we wished, and then we dozed, fire banked, door bolted, the windows closed– but when we woke, there was more fresh bread, a pitcher of milk, and another rose of red. . .
a golden feather glimmered on the floor.
I was looking at old posts this afternoon, and I discovered I had shared parts 1 and 2 of this poem with dVerse, so I decided to write a part 3 for Open Link Night. Scared children are on my mind, and I suppose I wish for them a happily ever after.
Listen— moon-wreathed the sky balanced between night-hymn and dawn chorus, a breath exhaled
a breath and then one more as wine-dark sea froths pale and gull-laughter sounds from the shore again
now watch and see the world around you breathe and stop when baby chick is eagle-plucked and gone
choices are made–eagle, chick, child, a soldier’s gun loaded, aimed, then stopped with a cry, a sigh
a breath, a pause in time, the world re-balances– land, sea, sun, moon, stars join in song— listen.
A cinq cinquain–five verses of five for the fifth day of the fifth month-for Laura’s prompt at dVerse. But I’ve also repeated the first line as the last, as in a crown cinquain.
“All has become quiet in Moscow.” –Count L N Tolstoy, The Cossacks, Sampson Low, Morton, Searle & Rivington, 1878
The air is heavy with silence, the quiet is a roar of denial– there is no war
there are no reports of fallen soldiers and grieving mothers, only the special operation to protect and save—
do not say otherwise, wiser to say nothing at all. The air is heavy with silence. That silence is heavy with fear.
For dVerse, where Linda has asked us to write a poem inspired by one of the opening sentences she has supplied. Foreign journalists in Moscow have been forced to leave. Within Russia news is restricted. No talk of war or invasion is allowed. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is called a “special operation.”
My dreams were moon-whispered songs– if rain came, it touched with gentle fingers and breathed honey-sweet breath on roses, their luscious scent awakened with the sun.
But now– storm winds beat with nightmare wings, and the seas send lathered purple tongues to lick the rocks, leaving bitterness to cling to them like an ache
we feel death come, an ever-expandable ship sailing to the after–
and thousands of mothers cry why— for what, and when can never ever give you what you want?
My poem from the Oracle. As always, she knows what’s going on.
Say how spring soars pink-winged after the storm, and moonlight whispers dreams of if we could or never did, we urged the sky, believed the lies
of roses. The forest screams under clouds of rust,
and we must boil water again there are no more gardens or birds– here the red-breasted man flies and then is still
beneath the blue, endless as time recalling the diamond sparkle above is long dead, yet seen and heard, like the fiddle’s aching notes, a reminder of sorrow and beauty, when spring sang in pastel notes of joy and raised green tendrils to embrace the world.
My poem from the magnetic poetry Oracle. Yesterday we had a beautiful spring day. Now it’s raining, and we’re expecting some snow and strong wind gusts. Right now a mockingbird is singing outside my window. And the war in Ukraine continues.🌻 There are many organizations trying to get assistance to Ukraine. Please help, if you can. Here is one list. Here is a link to a book of poetry put together by Annick Yerem available for a donation.
In the center, it’s still, the roar unheard, the rage unseen, not illusion– suspension— cock-eyed sanctuary within the whirling-armed beast, mercurial and wild— storms like gods, unpredictable
as wars. Now radiance of the Sun, Cyclops throws his thunderbolts
it rustles with wind-sighs raking debris, lifting blood-red leaves, sifting sand for life beneath trees, between stones, yellow flowers bloom
following the sun, as we do, in expectation of magic, a breath from the sky to banish air thick with grey, to return blue-winged, pink-tipped, shedding golden feathers–
in that light almost-love as it kisses the lingering ice, transforming it— and if the steel and concrete world devours, still the birds sing in echoes of the stars, recalling the once bright, now fallen,
while peace, a wandering vine, twines, unnoticed but anticipated, like a secret waiting to be revealed in the blush of chagrined dawn after the charcoal clouds clear, swept by cerulean again.
My poem from the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. As always, she knows what’s going on.
“To be a Flower, is profound Responsibility —” –Emily Dickinson, Bloom
Crocuses
Northwest wind whisks away the heron-grey, spins thread from cast-off eggshells the blue of hope, the color of tranquility blankets the sky, reflected in rivers and sea,
Feathery Clouds Swept Away by the Wind
while frosted leaves formed in midnight chill by feathered flap of snow goose flight melt in the rising glow of honeyed light pouring from above–
Reflections
now mothers seek their daughters, mourn their fathers and their sons as bulbs like hidden secrets wake to bloom in yellow, purple, and white, a robin sings
Sunrise
to make Ceres smile from a transitory space– mutability is a constant, death follows life– a brave woman curses soldiers with seeds,* sunflowers will grow on your graves,
and blood-moon nourished, mothers and daughters with wombs both planted and fallow carry on, waiting for a sprout of yellow green to waken in the sun.
The weather has been so changeable—freezing cold winds, then warmer days. The crocuses are sprouting. It’s been difficult though to think of anything except the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I’ve been having lots of dreams about mothers and daughters, some anxious, some funny, some filled with love and tenderness.
We watched the new movie Parallel Mothers (rental from Amazon—it may be coming to Netflix at some point). It is director Pedro Almodóvar’s most recent film, starring Penelope Cruz, who frequently stars in his films. It’s about two single mothers, one near 40, the other much younger, who meet in a hospital while they’re both in labor. They bond and later meet again. Cruz’s character is seeking help from a forensic anthropologist to uncover the mass grave where her great-grandfather and other men in her town were killed by fascist soldiers early in Franco’s rule. As well as mothers (a frequent Almodóvar theme), It seems to me that one theme of the movie is secrets, and how too many are willing to ignore and sweep the ugliness and tragedies away. It seems very pertinent right now.
We also watched a horror show on Netflix, Archive 81, that we both liked very much. It’s about a film restorer who is hired to take care of some old films that a grad student made about residents in a NYC apartment building. He uncovers—hmmm—more secrets! It’s very well done, and it definitely kept our interest! Tonight, we’re going to catch up on Mrs. Maizel—a Monday Maizel. I made knishes!
There’s a time for wind and storms that blow and beat and will not stop
for ships at sea and stars above—or me—
but spring whispers to get the garden dressed,
cast off the dun, and wreath the ground in yellow green
as honeyed shine make petals pop and robins hop to sing
in answer to the murmur from beneath.
Now, even as the black-clouds scream, the fiddle sounds from rooftop wings
the argent light of midnight moon to hum in sync until pink-petaled bright
the dawn comes slight–yet still we ask if peace will wake
and the wind answers, almost always, in the after.
My poem from the Magnetic Poetry Oracle. The poem was not inspired by the song Turn, Turn, Turn, but it went through my head after I wrote it and was reading it over. Of course, the Oracle knows everything.
Yesterday and today: Merril's historical musings 