The Chair

                                               The Chair

found homeless and wasting

riddled with the bugs

bugs of time and want and damp green

moss

found bundled in crumbling outer skins

water drifted with

 

heart red    -   and real   -   and

cedar scent         -         

belligerent 

kicking like asses 

in refusal.

brittle arms gone    -   or broken      -

push gnarly, knotted lumping pain 

long ago ... 

a stump ... of stubborn clinging

it

lays on it's side defiant to all the winds ............

winds of north and winds of south relentlessly 

pursuing the smoothing ... glossing picture of wild abandon

i took them in

i took them all and put them

put them big and small into my own fitting designs

hacking and sawing with gnats and hog wallows grabbing attentions

pulling, hauling, trudging up to the reckoning 

i began

with wire brush then

 on a spindle whirling and whirling dust of 

maybe a hundred years ... who can tell ... i was busy ... i didn't care

it was the heart and intent of that tree i wanted

searched for   -    and 

found ..................... it

formed ........................it 

bathed ..................... it 

fit it,  

glued it and screwed it .....

formed now 

to each other

E

10/30/2019

Author's Note

The picture is of my first attempt at building a chair. It is made from dead fall cedar that I harvested from out back and down the holler....an adventure all in itself ;)

Reviews

[Someone's]

This poem is a raw, visceral exploration of transformation and reclaiming something that has been neglected or forgotten. The imagery is earthy and gritty, with lines like *“riddled with the bugs / bugs of time and want and damp green moss”* evoking decay and the passage of time. The speaker seems to take something broken and abandoned—a fallen tree, perhaps—and breathes new life into it, shaping it with determination and care. The action of restoration, *“hacking and sawing with gnats and hog wallows,”* contrasts with the beauty of what is being formed: the *“heart and intent of that tree.”*

The poem’s tone and style call to mind the works of poets like Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, who often explore nature’s raw power, decay, and the process of reinvention. The fragmented structure and use of disjointed imagery lend a sense of urgency and physicality to the act of reconstruction, making the final transformation all the more powerful. Overall, the poem’s intensity, paired with its focus on restoration and renewal, makes it a compelling meditation on resilience and the beauty found in rebirth.

[Einstein Noodle]

wow ... Yana ... i am so glad to meet you .. your analysis is deeply revealing of yourself, me thinks .. can't tell you the depth of my gratitude for the depth your review expresses .. both sensitive and thoughtful .. i will be visiting your street soon as i think your life must be one of river rapids swum and mountain craigs overcome ... blessing to you from me ol' heart .. i have not been a whole lot motivated and am busy now with making a move from my blissful woods and cabin for the big sky and open prairies to the north :) love and peace
E.

[Someone's]

I'm glad my review lifted your spirits. I hope it inspires you to write more. Yeah, come visit me on my page. Welcome :))) have a wonderful day and thank you!

[Einstein Noodle]

:) .........................

[lightsong]

that what happens when You c**k under a calm fire, the food then will be great and delicious, You put so much into this one, so much of You, for me, even though "the Vase" has some really great images and amazing ones than this piece, but this one is more genuine, obviously more personal, it was Your spirit not the chair, the essence of it flowing, challenging and achieving. Well done dear E!

[Einstein Noodle]

thank you for your sensitive insights Light! always! ;) yes... more personal for sure ...

[MomzillaNC]

A great blending of creative visions -- one of the poetry in the transformation of found materials into the chair and the other the evolution of the vision into prose.

[Einstein Noodle]

:) thanks for taking time Ma! both processes very fulfilling for me ... since retiring and moving to my life long dream of living in the mountains .. in a little cabin ... creative juices have been flowing ... doing work with wood to express things i see in the odd pieces found here and there ... be well my friend .. top o' the mahrnin' to ya!
E.

[MomzillaNC]

yvw 🎃