Thursday, September 5, 2013

What I Carry



What I Carry


What I ought
Is in a pocket
In my heart.
Tucked into my heart, 
I carry 
What I ought.

What I do, 
Is on my shoulder;
Like a boulder on my back
I carry
What I do. 

What I know, 
Is in my hands;
In my open hands, 
I carry 
What I know.

But what I ought
Is in a pocket,
In a pocket of my heart;
I carry what I ought
In a secret part,
Tucked into my heart.


17 comments:

  1. How clever, I like the sharp and repetitive lines ~ We do carry the heaviest part in our hearts ` Good to see you ~

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  2. Well done! Love the way you seem to play with the words and the repetitions. Thank you for sharing this.

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  3. Love this. Yes we do carry all of that stuff.

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  4. Oh that ought-ness - it is closer than anything else. I like the repetition a lot - lovely & spare.

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  5. I love this ... carrying no more than you ought to ..

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  6. I believe this is an actual form, is it not? I do not follow these, have not been schooled, but I think this form is actually something like a Persian song form or something. Some kind of song form. I like it very much and I do not know if what I ought is heavier than what I do which seems heaviest here, but I agree that the deepest parts are weighty in other ways. A smashing piece of work, dear.

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  7. Also, one of the better works concerning the Vietnam war was titled, "The Things They Carried." That memory echoes for me here.

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  8. Well done - and I agree with Christopher - it reads in a very polished way.

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  9. like a nursery rhyme, but for grown-ups, so it becomes nearly a mantra, or even a prayer ~ M

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  10. Thinking around the subject - interesting. ♥

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  11. Drop the boulder and make it a stepping stone to your pocket and pull out your ought. i spent my life doing as others told me which way was right and left. It took awhile to realize their left was my right.

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  12. a perfect quote to live by. your poem was a nice tribute to that statement as well. i really like the sound that flowed throughout. have a great night~

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  13. I like the internal rhymes, and the layers of this. Nice one, Karen.

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  14. What a glorious poem. I can feel that boulder on my shoulders, too. It's heavy!

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  15. What a glorious poem. I can feel that boulder on my shoulders, too. It's heavy!

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