"You Come Into MY House?!?..."

"World Poetry Open Mic Presentation 29 August 2014"

This is both new and a partial add-in repost of mine from a long ago site.  On Friday the 29 of August, 2014 web-a-sode of World Poetry Open Mic, while I was listening to a Poet (Dennis - who is also here at WC) I was moved to shelf a piece I had intended to present and to write part of this and to re-remember the rest.  The title was aptly given by Michael Amidei while I waited to present this now “new” piece.

 

“You Come Into MY House?!?...”

 

Dennis - touched me…

brought my mind

to my heart and changed just

where

my focus fell.

 

I remembered

this - the depth of feeling

and the tears

that nurtured my

Lizbeth …Rose…

 

"MAKE Me Feel..."

 

K... it was said a Poet

can MAKE you feel.

Is it true?  Can a poet

force you to FEEL -

something that you hadn't felt

before

or maybe hadn't known

before

or something you didn't

or don't WANT to know or remember?

 

I need to give this THOUGHT a lot

more space…

 

Until then let me entertain you

with this one - while my mind

is away …elsewhere...

 

It's an old-growth rose bush

there - just a little to the right,

outside my window.

 

At the best of times …now…

it's sort of scraggly, twisted -

time and weather worn

with that windblown aging

only old-growth rose bushes get - ya know?

 

The original cuttings packet said

"Disease-resistant" - like us all,

and even the weather-zone faced

covered damn near anywhere at all.

But …only a couple grew…

the others died with barely a sprout or bud

to mark their presence and they darkened -

turned twiglike

and gradually eroded away.

Life does that - hangs heavy

and nothing's ever fair.

 

But this one - this ONE,

took off like a bat-out-a-hell…

swore she was wild and had a mind all her own -

it spread, meandered and rooted again

and again… seemed to just move itself

all over the damn place,

time and life DO that - ya know?

Kept cutting it back - didn't help

tried fencing it in - and it grew over

and through all the damn links!

 

Man what a B***H! …chuckling here -

but also what a rose -

the buds she held opened

and damn what a sight!

Hues you can't just believe

till you see them - and

a fragrance that floats and lasts

and just …lasts…

even in winter's memories.

 

And then came the year -

the blight found us

and 'Disease-Resistant' took on a new meaning

and I watched as we died in pieces

tried all that I knew

and all that I could

and still pieces withered and dropped away.

The bush shrank back and back

and further still into itself...

and somehow her life remained

hidden - seemingly confused.

The tendrils intertwined with themselves

and the buds got fewer and fewer

and when they opened - if at all,

were seeming ghosts of themselves

just a bare echo of once was.

 

But it’s like a friend now, ya know?

 

You can love echoes

for the beauty you saw

and still see within...

and you can close your eyes

and remember all the …hues…

and the fragrance might be less lasting

but it’s still as sweet as ever was.

 

I won't let go…

Won’t let her go…

won't dig her out

and toss us away.  We earned the right

to be right THERE - just a little to the right

as I look out my window - coffee cup in hand

awaiting to see this year’s buds - cautiously open

and the petals touch the sun, feel the wind,

and glow again.  My 'Lizabeth' Rose.

 

Chris

Author's Note

feel free

An aside - we personify in many of our writings ... even I'm guilty. I have better defined the original I presented to more clearly reflect my original intent.

Serious illnesses and injuries - unto death - are NOT rare and we all know people deeply touched (even ourselves). Sometimes a reader listens and sometimes well, people are busy with their own moments.

Reviews

[olla]

I won't let go…
Won’t let her go…
won't dig her out
and toss us away. We earned the right
to be right THERE - just a little to the right
as I look out my window - coffee cup in hand
awaiting to see this year’s buds - cautiously open
and the petals touch the sun, feel the wind,
and glow again. My 'Lizabeth' Rose.

this is the part I love the most.. we really don't see from the inside out.. all the things we need to make us thrive.. and we don't always recognize that the investment we make in the survival of another life can create bonds.. like the twining of a rose shoot that wraps around our hearts and gives us a reason to check in from time to time.. if only to reaffirm our own survival.. and perhaps "Lizabeth" Rose hangs on just as dearly for that moment when you come by for a visit..

[Chris]

Life as we live it... thought-full-y.

[carol burgess romance]

Totally awesome work......from the first line to the very end....the story of the roses so vivid....

[Chris]

I appreciate your pause and thoughts... hope to see you again

[Beccy]

Is it true? Yes of course it is. A true poet can take you to where they are with the power of their words.

When my grandma passed away some fifteen years ago, my father took several cuttings from the white rose bush that had flourished in her garden from when I was a very young child. Two cuttings survived, both grew strong and sturdy and eighteen months ago when my parent's moved, my father did the same again, and this summer they bloomed. . My grandma wrote poetry and each time I see her rose in full bloom it reminds me of how much she taught me and of how much I still love and miss her.

Beccy.

[Chris]

Hi, seems many people argue that point about being made to feel. I wrote a piece about how we are all simply roses ...once upon a time... and walls of flowers... So many different - themes and thoughts. I haven't TRIED making people "feel" but I have found that so many do ...try. Thank you for pausing... I hope you return.

[Sindu]

Incredible! Something so simple yet beautiful can wage a battle of life. You penned amazingly all the emotions and life's battle.. Be it a rose or us! You made me feel, Chris!

[MomzillaNC]

OH! How lovely… You've painted a picture, sweet, sad, and hopeful all at the same time.

[Chris]

Awww... thank you for pausing... and for the thoughts

[MomzillaNC]

You're welcome.

[Madison O'Dwyer]

Wow! A beautiful poem Chris, I was hooked and intrigued from start to finish.
It has a charming structure also - very fluid!
Thanks for sharing.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

sometimes poems have a life of their own...beautiful like a rose, but the idea like thorn keeps distracting us with its sharp points...needs to be unfolded once again...
the bloom of recreation...giving it some plant food in an allegorical sense...adding ink, adding words,
the rose speaks to our mind, to our creative side...it wants to regrow itself---

be replanted in another poem ...

i really like this one...

jacob

[TL Boehm]

oh wow. this is lovely - and it is how our friends can be - this definitely was an inspired write.

[Penlady]

Just wanted to jump in here and say Hi Chris! So much fun to read your back and forths with all these other wonderful writers...missed you...hope to hang in here and get reacquainted and enjoy some good writing...Love Barb
Lizabeth Rose, a beauty in repose
Or a brambling rose..exuding fragrance!

[sharonlee]

I lost all sense of time reading this... the late afternoon sun sunk a little as I lingered with afterthoughts... shadows grow cooler, last day of winter here, but still the shadows are cold... and still I linger in afterthought.

[Chris]

You've your own Spring starting up again - here it is all about Fall. Shar, I do wish you would come on the Open Mic - would be good listening to you present your thoughts!

[sharonlee]

I'll give it some thought.
I'm not very good at reading aloud and stumble often.
I do listen most weeks.

[Chris]

We ARE human Shar...we all stumble a bit, but it would be nice to hear ...you.

[sharonlee]

Thank you my dear friend... I also have concerns with the cost.

[Chris]

But of course you would... I do imagine there has to be a way perhaps Skype or another voice IM and your computer - could be used...