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©
Isadora Gruye
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A man may break
new ground, throw raw planks
upon the earth
and call it home,
seek out water
with a cleft stick and string
barbed wire
from post to post, regardless of the wind.
His woman will
sweep the dirt, the fragments
of stone and
stem, out the back door
in full
knowledge it will creep back in the front
and engrain her
fingertips, cling to her hair.
So will they
maintain the status quo
as children and
assorted pets tumble in hallways,
as consecutive days
extinguish stars one by one,
as drought
warps wood and gales mangle fences.
A man and woman
may taste the bitter root
before their
deaths, and cough up love.
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Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
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Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
Bitter-sweet mix of hope and reality, characteristic of many a life.
ReplyDelete... some thing never seem to change... loved the last line
ReplyDeleteI like the words flowing from this picture prompt - the man breaking ground to make a home, the woman sweeping dirt, over and over, drought warping the wood...the taste of bitter root before their deaths....Beautiful sonnet ~
ReplyDeleteAh, lovely. I especially like the use of that dust engraining woman like wood and being coughed up with the love. Wonderful sonnet. K.
ReplyDeleteYou have captured the harsh reality of drought in this sonnet, Kerry!
ReplyDelete"consecutive days extinguish stars one by one". Get out of town, Kerry. From start to finish, this is something special.
ReplyDeleteThe struggle for existence in itself is a rather plain, basic thing; you make it so revealing of both our own potential and the rhythms of the earth's exigencies, which cause us to be more--each line is a small, perfectly measured hammer stroke, but the last two are extraordinary, and make for an exceptionally striking finish.
ReplyDeleteLike Fireblossom said, this is something special. Wow, Kerry.
ReplyDeletefull stride, climbing mountains, you
ReplyDeleteRaw emotions expressed with such delicacy.. mixing despair with hope, a loveless relationship with a cry for affection...
ReplyDeleteTouching and evocative!
oh, man, i can really feel this. coughing up anything, get it all out. sigh. beautiful, as always, Kerry.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully bittersweet.
ReplyDeleteThe barbs of the everyday do gave us new insight!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is one hell of a cough!
;D
<3 this spell!
Wow! Incredible poem. Though the scene is bleak and a bit hopeless, there is the brightest spot there.
ReplyDeleteMeasured out like the days and years of which you speak, this poem underlines the dryness without mercy and yet has life tumbling through. Cough up love--like coughing up wealth and not mucus!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part:
"So will they maintain the status quo
as children and assorted pets tumble in hallways,
as consecutive days extinguish stars one by one,
as drought warps wood and gales mangle fences."
I am going to read this lovely piece again...and again..Hauntingly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe atmosphere you create here is thick...I can see the dust in the air as she sweeps this dirt. I love everything about this poem. You say so much without saying specifically and the last lines pack such a punch. I love how you kept all of your lines together...no stanza breaks...it really adds to the solidity of the piece, I think. Great writing as always, Kerry, I enjoyed this!! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully put together Kerry. You say so much with the atmosphere. And all in only 14 lines.
ReplyDeleteA poignant write and really, though, so very true of so many people. Nicely written.
ReplyDeleteThis just might be my favorite poem of yours... This photo, of course, is amazing. It is the one that grabbed me and I almost wrote to it - and now I can't as this is perfection. Wow, really, wow. It drips with atmosphere, life, hardship, emotion... I really can't say enough. Definitely bookmarking this post!
ReplyDeleteYears ago, there was a movie called Babette's Feast, which we jokingly called "Life, The Movie" because it was sweeping, all-encompassing, and though we said it jokingly, it was not mockingly because...well, it was a hell of a movie. This is pretty much "Life, The Poem."
ReplyDelete... and cough up love. What a strong ending. So many potential meanings... at death they did part... they continued to give love even in the end...
ReplyDeleteAs I read, Kerry, I pondered the fact that nature, the elements, the earth always wins in the end. Whatever we do in our lifetime, the ecosystem will overgrow, overtake, overwrite it in due time.
Ohhhhh, THIS:
ReplyDelete"the fragments
of stone and stem"
GORGEOUS.
Steinbeck would heave a holy Shit! and a beer in the direction of this one sure. Stars being extinguished one by one causes me great angst...you know it always does. Coupling love undying and life unending mixes to form a the sort of soup in which you know the potatoes are in there, but you still cant taste them or feel their weight in your belly. I am in awe as always. You may not be writing as much but what you are writing is simmply fantastic.
ReplyDelete