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
fold in
along skin-cracks
in the core that
once more
begins to heal
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.
Posts
7 comments:
Excellent!
I like the journey from the beginning to the end ... it speaks of hope.
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
Beautiful and touching, as usual. Thank you so much for sharing!
these words
you use them well
like knitting
an irish
sweater
that is warm
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.
Maureen ... powerful and lovely imagery that touched me deeply.
This poem touched my very being. I can relate...
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