What could be more unpopular than a poem that rhymes? Maybe a poem about happiness? After all, aren't we poetic types supposed to be full of woe? Well, sorry folks, but I just can't manufacture any angst lately. Oh, sure, there are things in my life that are difficult -- things I would change -- but in the end, I am a very happy person.
When I started thinking about the TFE's Poetry Bus challenge this week, to be still and feel what is inside us, I could only think of one line: I have loved and been loved. Have I had hardships? Yes. Loss? Absolutely, heartbreakingly. But through it all, I am blessed to be able to say that I have faith and I have loved and been loved.
For the full Poetry Bus challenge and to read the other (probably non-rhyming, maybe not-so-happy) Poetry Bus riders, go here. It's a talented crew and a rollicking ride!
deep within
a warm wind formed in rain skirts below the windowpane
stirs the curtains skips along the wall
travels gently down the hall skids across the cold stone floor blows in
through an open door to the heart-room of the home
where the woman sits alone works the pen that tells her art
thinks about the singing sound made by choirs of angels' wings
as they gather as they swing through the ether and of weaving at a loom
where the art reflects the heart of the weaver then a thought comes
fully formed from the wind where it was borne: "Contentment deep within,"
in the poem that she forms in the music that she hears in the blessings
of the years in the people she has known in the love
she has been shown contentment on the wind skirts the curtains
rushes in mixes with her softest sigh weaves itself
into the dye of the fabric of her very happy life
That's lovely Karen!
ReplyDeleteOh nice - you wrote a non-sappy happy poem. I like it!
ReplyDeleteEven though these are all "secret" poems, I hope the person contributing to all this felicity gets the general drift of this one. The interior rhymes are lovely.
ReplyDeleteA warm happy poem so powerful it can thaw any freezing heart... Vivid penning.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem, there's a few happy campers on the bus, and it's no harm at all.
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The warm wind feels good!
ReplyDeletex
Contentment deep within .. you know when it's there ... lovely.
ReplyDeleteKaren loved it when you hit the rhythm of the mid line rhyme. Good lord are we drinking from the same well? I can't seem to raise any pissed offedness lately myself? *shrug* We is what we are and we are what we show to the world if honest. Honesty rings in this piece and it is refreshing.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem, really liked so much of it, especially 'rain skirts below windowpane'. And you're right, always lean to the positive, might just zap my depressing night meandering from my blog.
ReplyDeleteI know this quiet heart-room. You describe it beautifully, Karen.
ReplyDeleteA Tough Call
ReplyDeleteHow can I write joy
without seeming a sappy
fool at the cliff's edge?
How can I touch you
when you are roiled and knotted
up with disaster
if I am so free
of the darkness that besets
you, many others?
How can I be you
if I am at peace when you steam
in the world kettle?
But how can I lie,
Tell you I'm fading and dim
when it's just not true,
when sadly and soon
it will be again my turn
treed, to snap and snarl.
I think that well done, effortless-feeling rhyme is much harder than free verse and very pleasing to read. But that's just me.
ReplyDeleteHard-won happiness is definitely worth writing about. :)
TFE - Thanks for the great prompt!
ReplyDeleteBug - Non-sappy happy! Love that!
Mairi - It's cumulative -- faith, family, friends -- and I hope they know.
Fistful of Moonbeams - Thank you kindly!
Niamh B. - May you have the same contentment when you look back on your family.
Harman - Hello and welcome.
Rachel - Thanks!
Helen - Thanks!
TWM - What's going on with us, Mark? Ah, you know...it'll return (probably too soon), but let's enjoy the respite.
120 Socks - You know the rain brought that warm wind. Things have certainly not always been easy, but the result has been the same.
Tess - That's the place to be!
Christopher - Good questions, all, but the ending brings me up short because it's probably all too true. I love that image - treed. That's a great image.
Jason - Thank you on both counts!
To my mind what a poem should do is make you feel. There are no preconditions; WHAT it should make you feel. This poem fulfills all the requirements. The third couplet I thought was lovely, but then this:
ReplyDeletehen a thought comes
fully formed from the wind where it was borne: "Contentment deep within,"
just put the seal on it. A very fine poem indeed.
A veritable sirocco of a poem,
ReplyDeleteLoaded with love and life. Whats wrong with that!
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Hi, Karen! It's so good to see you again. This is a beautiful poem. I don't care if a poem is happy, sad, angry, depressed, funny, etc., as long as the poem makes me feel and think. That's what I love about your work. It always moves me. The reason it moves me is because you are honest, so the human heart shines through. If a poet writes with honesty, the emotion conveyed to the reader is always authentic.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is wonderful for many reasons. I love the title. The flow is awesome. The rhyme is gentle, not forced, and it works so well with the subject. The details like the wind and a "cold stone floor" are beautiful. In addition to moving me emotionally, it moves me along as a reader. I love how you begin with the curtains and end with the "dye of the fabric of her very happy life."
I also can't help but think of something my grandmother once told me. She had many rough things happen in her life...extremely rough. Many sorrows and losses. But on her deathbed, she looked up at me with her sweet face and said, "I have been so blessed." That appreciation for life and love is true happiness. That's what I feel when I read your poem. It is what life is all about.
'contentment deep within' - some people just don't understand why not be pissed off all the time, do they?
ReplyDeletein my opinion, it is much more difficult to express poetically happyness and contemplation than it is to pen down anger and turmoil. so all, my congratulations to you, who are able to write about being content and all the little joys of life without ever being cheesy. it is a tough job.
VERY beautiful and uplifting!
ReplyDeleteI know I came, I read, and I thought I posted? I must have made a mistake, I want you to know how much I liked the poem. And I loved the piece on Poets United, poem of the week. Wish I had written it.
ReplyDeleteI love the weaver/weaving metaphor and your contentment is so well expressed in this. The way it comes full-circle to the curtains and the wind shows a skillful handling of what could be maudlin, but never proves to be.
ReplyDeletePrayer-like for me.
Kat
What can I say? This is beautiful and contentment? a true treasure.
ReplyDeleteI can relate...
~Calli