Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Our Hunger and Our Thirst (Poem)

Our Hunger and Our Thirst

      I had questions but you would not answer
      I had answers but you could not use them
        ~ Adrienne Rich, "Cartographies of Silence"

Scratch yourself
from your enemy's face.

Look for the difference.

Tell me why it matters

that the sea reaches your shore burning
bluer, your oranges tasting
of a sweeter summer's noon.

In the broken dream
we are all awake. Time's the only natural element
impeding movement.

Our children, ill-sheltered, sit
recounting how the silenced night resists and resists
their song. They get by

while the simple sound of blood courses
to our temples, exploding
into a homeland of memories

of jealousies and fears, of women who cannot forget
that a man can declaim desire without love
ever renewing itself.

But for our act of drawing
a different marker setting different boundaries
you might be here

on this side more conscious

of our spatial arrangements:
our map the entire sky opening
as do clouds before navigating

birds, their maps invisible and unerring.

See me as more than
this single thing wanting.

See me
in you as in a mirror
repeating

the oldest story you can recall,
how when we stood side by side
to embrace the dying fire our hands filled

with what our hearts could not
fathom

of desert and rock and dust
of skin below cold water
of bones bending for final prayer

stilling what stilled

our hunger and our thirst our only treasure.

© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas

11 comments:

Pat Hatt said...

Beaten to dust it would seem, breaking at the actual seam. Great write!

emmett wheatfall said...

This is just too good, Maureen. More people need to read your work. This poem is ripe with talented writing. So glad to have made your acquaintance.

emmett wheatfall said...

2327gericel

Brian Miller said...

Scratch yourself
from your enemy's face.

Look for the difference.

Tell me why it matters...great opening maureen....and love toward the end when our hands fill with what our hearts can not fathom....ha...very nice...

Laura said...

oh Maureen... this is so beautiful, full of exquisite lines that blur the lines of separation we humans fearfully create.

Beachanny said...

I've read this five times. I left and I came back. Each line, each grouping holds layers of meanings, of memories, of cliches reworded that reach back to school yards, to pre-pubescent yearning. Here is the truth of discovery, and the loss in aging, the changing, the need, and the letting go as more than gravity pushes down on mind and spirit. This is stunningly intelligent and brilliant.

Louise Gallagher said...

Oh my. this is stunning.

Wow

I love these lines...

the oldest story you can recall,
how when we stood side by side
to embrace the dying fire our hands filled

with what our hearts could not
fathom

Unknown said...

Ah, Maureen. This was simply beautiful. What more can I say except I absolutely loved this.

Elisabeth Zguta, Author said...

Wonderful

kelvin s.m. said...

See me as more than
this single thing wanting.

See me
in you as in a mirror
repeating

..my fave lines.. that ring so perfectly into my ears.. thank you for this.

good day!

Unknown said...

This is gorgeous... for so many reasons. I look forward to reading more of you.