Tuesday, December 1, 2009

This Thing Called Grief (Poems)


This Thing Called Grief

I

Grief is hard as stone
Tough to crack

Weighty with memory
And love in arrears

A talisman to aid the crossing
From now to forever

Eagle's feather   rabbit's foot
Four-leaf clover    lucky penny

Solid in the hand
Something to hold on to



II

Grief's a shiv
in the heart, held

like free verse
rocking in the mouth

as a mother her babe
rocks lullingly

forth and back
meaning to repeat

the patterned
picking up and putting down

of solid markers
drawn like the longest

lines in the palms
of the hands

twinned to
close up to open out

till life and death
fold in

along skin-cracks
in the core that

once more
begins to heal

with the air you take in

Copyright © 2009 Maureen E. Doallas. All Rights Reserved.


I offer these poems as my contributions to this week's Blog Carnival, hosted by Peter Pollock and Bridget Chumbley. The first was written after my brother's death in May. The second I wrote a day or two ago.

The Blog Carnival, usually held every two weeks, requires only that participants contribute something related to the Carnival's one-word theme. This week's prompt was "grief".

To read other Blog Carnival participants' posts or to drop a link to your own contribution, please click here.

7 comments:

Janet Oberholtzer said...

Excellent!
I like the journey from the beginning to the end ... it speaks of hope.

Peter P said...

I'm so glad that you offer up some carnival poetry. It offers a different perspective on and approach to the subject.

Thank you, Maureen

Anonymous said...

Beautiful and touching, as usual. Thank you so much for sharing!

Anonymous said...

these words
you use them well
like knitting
an irish
sweater
that is warm

Louise Gallagher said...

Hello Maureen -- I posted a comment this morning, but it got lost in cyberland. Thank goodness your words don't/didn't get lost. They are beautiful. It is reassuring to know they are here for all to breathe in and cherish.

Joyce Wycoff said...

Maureen ... powerful and lovely imagery that touched me deeply.

Bernadette Pabon ,Teacher, Director of CCD, Author said...

This poem touched my very being. I can relate...