Valerie Roney

A copy and paste of the first sohbet thread, lost in the development of the sohbet page. It was so wonderful I wanted to save and share it, even if the functionality of the replies is lost. I’ll leave the comments open at the end so you can still reply to the general thread if you like, just can’t link directly to a specific poem. Enjoy:

My starting poem:

Fallowed field,
tilled

The old broken up
turned over
revealing something new

Fresh soil
open, ready
waiting…

The replies:

Matthew: Charbonneau

We build cities high,
to escape our natural roots.
God is in the ground.

Fionna

Very beautiful! I have an old poem I came across lately that I thought would be a good contribution.

Insight
“An instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing through intuitive understanding”
Exposure at its core,
a cleansing feeling
And no place to hide
No branches to shield you from the storm

While water spills down your spine

Denied sanctuary

Foolishly testing the depths of temptation,
the pool where sinners swim

The serpent, the apple, the bite

While preachers parading their faiths,
like lifeguards blowing their whistles
While in the water some scream for salvation
from a savior who thrives on redemption
Promising an oasis, a heaven,
a false numbing creation…

…to forget a life left behind

Valerie

A life left behind…
The space in between
Nowhere, I wish I knew where

Toss it all in the dumpster
It’s all rubbish in the end
Anything built is eventually reduced to dust
Molecules and atoms, back to a field of potentiality
Building blocks for the next form

Form is foamy
Empty on the inside
More space than substance
Knowing it is the space that is real
The substance just gives it somewhere to be

Somewhere to be
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Somewhere to fit
Instead, like one cog in a great wheel
Fitting in, linked in motion,
then moving on…

Donna

dust to dust
the cycle of life and death
no beginning no end
the forever journey
that all creation travels

this means that
there is no end to time
no end to space
no end to learning
no end to experience

then let us continue
the neverending journey
joyfully

dagmar

not a neat freak
the dust settles where it may
i notice more often now
there is less dust

Donna

As the dust settles
I draw my finger across
and patterns appear
tracks of the unconscious
a mind wandering
a mind wondering

Bryan McLean

potential
waiting
as the earthworms till
and the dirty rain succeeds

Donna

a surface covered
in writhing life
after the rain
I watch my step
to avoid the end
of a worm’s life

This reminds me of a day when a friend and I decided to use an abandoned basketball court to do some tai chi. It was after a summer rain and the whole court was covered in worms. My tai chi partner decided to spend the next half hour carefully picking up the surviving worms and putting them in the shady part of the grass to save them. We managed to clear half a court to practice tai chi but got some strange looks from passersby.

Donna

the cutting edge of the plough
sailing through the earth
a furrow opening
to welcome
seeds

dagmar

your poem and the theme of ploughing and turning over the earth brought to mind this one written by Yehuda Amichai

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Place Where We Are Right

From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.

The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.

But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.

by Yehuda Amichai

Bob

In the spirit of continuing the poetry sharing that’s been going on here, I’ll contribute a section of a song lyric by Luba Kowalchyk, that I think is appropriate to your “Escape Velocity“:

Some say time
is just a measure of light
But it’s the essence of life
so don’t waste one more precious dream.