poem: mended

 

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something’s suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.” " American writer Barbara Bloom

 

 

 

Today started with a sigh.

  An admission?

     this sky is slate. Blank.

        the ground, tilting-

   rain-washed and windblown

      with the realization

        everything changes. perception.

 

many things are broken. some

        cannot be

    repaired; some others: well

we will shall see those results

       when the sealer sets,

     annealing what was sundered

         in order

       to re-create the whole.   

 

  and we will try using the thing again.

 

one goal attained. the vaster,

    always- a work in progress.

   I hold this bowl, this fragile thing,

 spent some time on its cleaning,

      restoration. underneath-

 it is carved.

   jade. delicate but tough.

translucent.

 

empty. but not the hollow

  kind of empty. more the

    expectant kind- the empty

sacred room in which

    the crib has been placed.

 

and ready or not

   I guess... a decision was made

       for me.

 This vessel will be put on the market

     again. Items always

   were happier

      when in a state of use.

 

maybe there is someone

  who appreciates

      the cracked and imperfect.

   the mended.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

kintsukuroi: the art of repairing broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer to make the final piece a greater work of art for having been broken.

Reviews

[Fernando Pessoa]

Your confessions are filled with a beautiful complexity and a wondrous simplicity. Are we not all broken in some way? Fears and frustrations that bring sorrow beyond articulation? But you face it for us head one and embrace flaws. You make them seem like precious treasures only one with pure love will truly recognize. I believe you may well be made entirely of gold.

“For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it.” ~ Ivan Panin

[Marie Anzalone]

Thanks, Paul. One of my favorite novels is Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible," with a missionary family that escapes from the missionary husband/ father in Africa. One of the characters talks about hunger; she says, "those who have known the true hunger of starvation of the body cannot ever again truly love those who have not." I think that is also true of those of us who have been hurt very deeply in love- damaged by years of abuse and neglect. We need someone who can understand how deeply those things cause our interiors to crack, and how badly they affect us. To be patient and gentle with our healing, willing to draw us out. It takes an extraordinarily strong person to do that, don't you think?

[Fernando Pessoa]

Ah, I know it well. Yes. And there are those truly who have walked through the fire and know the healing of the cool waters at the end... They know patience and passion as few others do. What beautiful reflections you always give to life.

[Marie Anzalone]

"“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?”
-Kahlil Gibran

[xxlheart]

I just love this piece.....perfectly written and well it just went straight to my heart

[Marie Anzalone]

I found that a lot of people said that this one resonated with them. I know the original concept it is based on resonated with me like truest truth when I first heard of it. I almost HAD to write about it.

I appreciate the reviews and friendship both, greatly. Thank you.

[Jack...]

We all have a few dents and dings that we hope have mended well enough for someone else to appreciate them. I liked the feel of this piece and I love the message. Very nice.

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you very much for your review, Jack. I think sometimes that in the US we try so hard for a facade of perfection, the polished armor we show off to the world, that we forget anything authentic wears over time. I have worked with female sexual trauma survivors, and it always amazes me both how resilient they are once they mend the cracks... and how much they are treated like some fragile, damaged goods by their families and communities. As something to be pitied. The same could be said of many war veterans, who often come out stronger and more empathic and resilient a sa result of their experiences. All any of us ever want is peace of mind and to be treated as we really are. I thought the conceot of celebrating breaks in the spirit was very apt, and I am glad you enjoyed it, too.

[Jack...]

I found it produced some very intriguing thoughts and ideas and actually has allowed me to look a bit differently at myself. It is amazing to me what I can learn about myself through someone else's poetry. I learn a lot on this site. You are very welcome.

[Jen]

.

[Marie Anzalone]

hmm... did I find this review constructive? Considering it is not even a review, just a cheap shot by a paranoid coward through a proxy- no, not constructive. Simply meant to be a hurtful attack. Hope you got some satisfaction out of the encounter, and glad I could serve as a target for you. Just another service I provide, I guess.

[icelandicblue]

This has so many applications to life. Thank you for introducing me to kintsukuroi- I am fascinated by the concept. It brings honor to the life of things. You are a talented poet with a beautiful brush of words.

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you for your kind words, icelandic. I too was fascinated by the concept. Seemed so much more True than our culture of false newness and fake fronts. Truer to nature. Aren't the most beautiful trees the ones battered by wind, the most beautiful rocks the ones weathered ans sculpted over the ages? Why should we be any different?

[icelandicblue]

There is a book that was recommended to me that I have not gotten around to reading. I think I will make the effort now it's called The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance: Edmund de Waal. This is the synopsis from Amazon:Edmund de Waal is a world-famous ceramicist. Having spent thirty years making beautiful pots—which are then sold, collected, and handed on—he has a particular sense of the secret lives of objects. When he inherited a collection of 264 tiny Japanese wood and ivory carvings, called netsuke, he wanted to know who had touched and held them, and how the collection had managed to survive.

Have you by chance read it?

[Marie Anzalone]

I have not... but one of the things I love about having a Goodreads account is the ease with which I can add items of interest to my reading list. A recommendation on this theme that I will share with you is "Fallign Upwards," by Richard Rohr, a Jesuit priest wrting about why hardship and failure in life is crucial to spiritual wholeness and development into what he calls the second half of life. He says the first half is about survival and building your "home," the second half is about learning to live in it.

[Zap-the-awesome]

This is very nice and unique to what I ussually read. Great work

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you for the kind words and for the review, Zap.

[Sorry Infamous]

Everyone is molded by their cracks, their "flaws". The hope in this shines... somethings may be broken but it is not for long. It is not forever. A wonderful thought.

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you, SI- I am glad you found this, and glad that it spoke to you. It is nice to see you back. We are so conditioned sometimes as women to present that perfect flawless package on the exterior... and by extension, we are expected to maintain impossible standards on the interior tpp. It is no wonder so many of us, especially those of us who are intelligent, are so prone to depression and anxiety. Thus, when I learned of this technique, I breathed SUCH a sigh of relief. It really was so simple and honest and made so much sense- stopped me dead in my tracks.

[Sorry Infamous]

How true! You are a wise wise woman indeed. I am glad I found this, too. I have much catching up to do.

[Larry Dyson]

So true on the concept...we seem to have lost that concept in our "melting pot" of cultures....many cultures design all art work with a flaw ...for nothing is born or remains perfection...

[Marie Anzalone]

Thanks, Laury, I was actually commenting on that very concept in a comment to another reviewer on here. In my own artwork, I always leave a flaw. Or two.

[Larry Dyson]

me too...mindful of the necessity of true art....created by a person...archetypes already exist...smiles.

[Onku Ghosh]

Nothing is perfect.It has to have a flaw .It is this flaw that imparts it its true beauty. This mended bowl will also be appreciated as a greater piece of art for having been broken.Charming write!!!!

[Marie Anzalone]

Thank you, Onku!

[Cool Handless Luke]

some others: well
we will shall see those results
when the sealer sets,
annealing what was sundered
in order
to re-create the whole.

very awesome lines Marie! A very nice job using the imagery of molding or repairing pottery with that of relationships. Very straightforward and poignant without being over complicated (which is what I would do - lol - i am the writer chasing rabbits and stray thoughts after all). Very well done my friend!

[Marie Anzalone]

LOL no worries, CHL, I can complicate a straight line. You should see my latest if you want complicated...

But yes, I too loved the simplicity in the concept I remark upon here. It is eerie- I wrote this the day you came back, I think- and I was actually thinking of your "ghost" when I penned those lines, for they are words very similar to ones I have seen you use. And of course, gold anything makes me think of your comments to me. I can tell you from experience, repairing those vessels is tough and tedious and humiliating and spine-bending work sometimes. I can only hope that the finished prodcuct actually may hold a little water when all is said and done. Then again, is anything ever really said and done completely?

[Ilina]

A nice and unique subject for a poem. I think there'll always be some people who appreciate the 'cracked and imperfect' because in a sense we as human beings too are like that..we are not perfect..we make mistakes but then we mend them just like the effort which is put to mend that bowl.

[Marie Anzalone]

thnak you, Ilina, for the review. But don;t tyou see, the spirit IS the vessel/ bowl?

[Ilina]

I saw the spirit in mending that bowl which is similar to the mending of our flaws/mistakes because just like the bowl we too are cracked imperfect.

[Marie Anzalone]

that is it, exactly