I didn’t know it was in me,
this fluidity of spirit that,
when chafed with suffering, rose,
a genie in a lamp,
offering the sample of three wishes:
to know,
to be known,
to love.
Come with me.
Live in the teeming understanding of self
tormented with perpetuity,
silver chords of unity defying
definitions swallowed by fledglings.
Resurrect the energy of living barbarically
when stabbed by the epiphanies of pain.
Force our symphony,
amalgamated swoop from the tree
wiped away in exchange for these wishes,
three,
vibrating in our breasts
having lost their rest when polished
by a savage magic.
by nancy jewell 2005
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2 comments:
Good opening line. A real grabber. A fluidity of spirit.
Interesting to see a word like chafe in a poem. Amalgamated, too. I like seeing unexpected words in poetry.
I like the poem's demand/invitation: Come with me.
I'm having such a...odd reaction to this poem. I guess because even though I do want to be known, I also want to remain unknown. And because sure, I want to be loved...yet spend far too much being unloved. Ha.
I enjoyed reading this, Nancy.
I keep misreading that "teeming understanding of self" as "misunderstanding" and that might just be my own personal slant since I feel my misunderstanding of my own self does teem.
Thank you, Laurel. I had quite an insecurity fit myself after having posted the thing :) I tend to wallow in the abyss of the abstract but, yeah, suffering does cause conflicting emotions to arise and I think I was trying to conquer the same things in myself with which you struggle. So, yeah. I understand your desire/fear. Been there done that, to be cliche' :)
peace,
nancy.
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