"Indeed, it is only when a traditionally oral culture
becomes literate that the land seems to fall silent."
David Abram in ”MAGIC AND THE MACHINE”
Emergence Magazine (October 17, 2018)
God is here
the spirited walker* chantsin a rhythm of one word per stepand I revise the chantI am hereand speed up or down as I wish.One word per step meansusing alternate feet to start each phraseand soon, I alternate phrases:I am here, God is herebut as soon as I do, the complex sentencestarts each phrase on the same foot.Try it. It matters whether the rhythmhas an even or odd number of feet.That amazes me for a minuteuntil I connect mind and bodyin alternating the simpleand complex sentences.
Where’s the poem? Where arethe images and metaphors?Where are the details of story?My back hurts. I lose trackof words and meter, but continuedown the sidewalk and into my yard.
Swiftly or
slowly I
feel softness
under my feet and sense
a welcome from the ground
who knows me
and fears not
that I will
come to them before time
but skim on their surface
lovingly touching pine
needles both
white and scotch
as they brush my forearms
and I bathe
in nature’s
welcome, and I return
their embrace.
spirit, God
I
am
here
gratefully
home again
inspired by the earthweal weekly challenge: GRATITUDE
My blog poems are rough drafts.
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© 2022 Susan L. Chast
I love this, Susan - sensing welcome from the ground under your feet.......reciprocity at its finest......and the feeling gratefully home again. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteYou found me, Sherry! Now I'll have to post this, ready or not!
ReplyDeleteI can walk loud with my thought - and hear nothing -- or walk in prayer of grateful presence and heal into the wisdom of the land. 'Tis a choice and a discipline and a joy ... I love how the poem works for find its center and then surrenders to it finding a way to sing home!
ReplyDeleteI love the ideas your poem embodies, and the opening quote. Wordsworth used to compose whilst walking, not writing down but memorising lines in time to the rhythm of his footsteps!
ReplyDeleteThe thought process in this I can relate to, where is the poem? I often wonder where is the poem of the day on my walks? Then the magic happens and something surfaces. A bird, a shift in the the wind or a bit of sun. There is poetry in that.
ReplyDelete"and I bathe in nature's welcome, and I return their embrace"
A lovely spiritual poem. Where is God...God is everywhere...in the soft earth under your feet,in the rustle of a leaf...or a bird song.
ReplyDeleteThe reciprocity is beautifully rendered.
ReplyDeleteLike you I often search for poems when I walk and find them when I return home. I like the way you equate the search for a poem with the search for God and find both in the end.
ReplyDeleteHealing words of affirmation. Beautiful to read and embrace.
ReplyDelete