How We Rise

My ancestors live in me.

My grandmother rises in me,

how the crown of her hair lies in sunlight

and into the wrinkle of her cheek folded reticence

is hid, the mist of years salting air, in tears, in our

shared blood, laughter hand blown through trees, soft

glass whispered particles buried with seed and moist

dirt, her knees touching earth, her voice infusing the

hills against my eardrums, my mind formed and feeding

from the ground, her laying up against hunger, her

wanting, thrown as spirit, high against blister-filled

wind, a boomerang of changeling charms, lying wait in

soft flour folded over dough, heart shaped, fine dust

helix, furnace stoked nights of rosary turning,

me rising from the ash

Reviews

[Jack...]

I love how this piece just grabbed me and held on. From the very first word to the last, it would not let go and I could not be happier. This was wonderfully written, almost as if I weren't reading it at all, like it was reading itself to me. Very cool.

[Kristina Moulaison]

I love that! Thank you!

[TL Boehm]

this is a beautiful piece. i often look for family in my own face. Sometimes without resolution.

[Adam Whitworth]

nicely done, her laying up against hunger, and you inheriting the trait. So much is good here.

[Alfred Kukitz]

Excellent writing Kristina! I sense a witnessing of you and your ancestor moving in and out of each other in a dance of the ages.

[Bobbie Coelho]

I love this too. The very first line catches you and you want to read on. Brilliant

[bob, small b. aka invs]

this was beautifully written and the photo that went along with it was both beautiful and dramatic.

[Lyn Anderson]

This is a lovely piece. One minor thing -- hair lies in sunlight, but as always, poetic license prevails.

[Rick r]

In reading this after much musing over the Fathers Day weekend, I find your piece a very evocative and creative capture of relatedness. A kind of "the Lucy in you" poem. Your mitochondrial DNA was stirring here. Well writ and perfect length.

[The Quill]

this is a masterpiece , amazing work, a great flow and beautiful usage of words...

[Cory Barrett]

Kristina, you pain a fantastic image in all of your writings, and this is the summit!

[John Anderson]

I love the message in your poem. This is beautifully expressed