poem: A Love Poem for World Poetry Day

 

You start somewhere. You start small.

The universe is too vast to absorb at once

after you’ve been sleeping. So upon waking,

you fall in love in small pieces,

with it. Each day- you discover

fractal geometry and the fine art

of sitting still in gardens. Arias over the

morning crossword puzzle; the askance

poetry of public transportation. Morning

sun bathing the Sierra Madre. You build up

the courage, and then let others in,

when they do little things for you, you simply

add them to the list, until tiny acts

become the Universe, too.

 

You brought me a cup of tea,

and Everything changed.

 

Incongruous, maybe. Rough, raw beauty

in a heavily varnished world. Let it

all sink in, then. The heart-stopping

realization- I have probably now lived

more days, than I have left.

 

But universal laws are like that. Half

lives only measure energy over time-

they are useless at measuring the quality

of any single day’s input to the world’s

understanding. And so, through you, I see

fractals and sunlight more knowingly. I

sit in more gardens, perhaps. Leave some

work undone.

 

But this always was the way of things; they

came to you in orbits and posits

instead of straight lines and Truths. You

put order to the chaos; imbued the

smallest daily action with the human

lifespan’s meaning. I hammer this nail

for God so loved the world. Amen. Or not.

You unlearn for the relearning.

Make excuses to lie back under trees,

to embrace maybe “not doing.”

Love sows its seeds in contemplative spaces

but seeds can be tenacious things; a little patch

of dirt and morning dew may be all

they require from you. You love them

no less- appreciation becomes

daily ritual of non-sacrifice. Abundance.

 

I could easily add you to fifty years of

morning light’s joy; and five decades

of contemplation under every dark’s star;

I would give to you,too.

 

Author's Note

in Spanish:
http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/zorra_encantada/1503365/

Reviews

[W.k.kortas]

Rambling in the best sense of the word, moving at the speed of life, if you will. It is conversational in tone and pacing, but there is a subtle, entrancing mixture of the everyday and the universal--fractals and crossword puzzles, buses and Truths with a capital T. There is love and longing here, but in hushed tones, love on a Romeo-and-Juliet scale filtered through the clunk and clang of the workaday world. This piece is the whole package.

[Marie Anzalone]

Thanks, kortas. I find that so many things become tsunamis constrained by superhuman effort, and keep asking, "what happenes if I let it out?" But I still am finding the courage for that. On all fronts. Recovery can be a tedious process. And I appreciate you staying with me, here. More than you know.

[Gretchen D'Huyvetter Co..]

I love your mix of concrete and universal experiences and the soft and conversational tone - as if you are in conversation both with yourself and the entire world. Beautiful piece.

"You brought me a cup of tea
and Everything changed."

[TL Boehm]

a beautiful write. Love sows its seeds in contemplative spaces
but seeds can be tenacious things; a little patch
of dirt and morning dew may be all
they require from you. You love them
no less- appreciation becomes
daily ritual of non-sacrifice. Abundance.
yes. a lovely lovely ramble

[Marie Anzalone]

So glad you stopped by, and also glad that you liked this one, Tammy. Blessings.