Saturday, September 21, 2013

You ask me, a poet, to write of peace



Instead 
I pour sea salt
on floor, white crystals on black 
forming lines, trails, zigzags, u-turns grief    
to healing, meticulously hour after hour, 
a canvas emerges 

Instead 
I stitch a patch  
with my sisters, aunts, girlfriends
pinning & folding each sides carefully, 
delicately threading, day after day
a quilt spreads

Instead
I prepare chicken soup
& fresh salads & bake pies
rinsing & wiping each plate & cup 
tending a warm fire, season after season
a hearth nests 

Instead
I pot the garden 
& sweep neighbor's side of fallen leaves
offering my bus seat to an old man
& smiles to tired woman behind the check-out counter
a bridge shapes  

Instead
I gather all:  words & salt grains
& hurl them back to the tides during autumn's eve  
perhaps this is how peace finally arrives:
to accept that all returns 
to sea  


Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - Poetics on Peace - Inspired by the artist work via Colossal
Thanks for the visit ~

46 comments:

  1. I love this, Grace. Enjoyed especially the second stanza, the making of the quilt as a metaphor of how peace spreads. Yes, I picture it happening something like this. Piece by piece added. And if only we would sweep our neighbor's leaves instead of stopping at the yard's clear border. Good will again spreads peace, and it is something we can ALL do.

    Happy International Day of Peace to you, Grace!

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    1. Thank you for the timely & meaningful prompt Mary ~ Happy day to you too ~

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  2. first...the salt art is amazing...wow...what concentration...like a meditation labyrinth....and i love the compassion that comes through in htis...peace is in small things like raking neighbors leaves and doing these small random acts of kindness...

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    1. Yes, the process of making it is amazing to watch ~ Actually the artist turn into this to deal with his sister's death, so there's meaning in his work as well ~ I agree its in the little acts ~ Thanks Brian ~

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  3. Peace of mind and peace of heart, can sure come from doing such acts at your cart

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  4. Wow, Grace, I was enjoying each meticulous moment as they started small and grew, but when you added its impermanence, its destruction and return to the sea, I sat up with wide-eyes! Perhaps Peace grows that way, but I hope the cooking, hosting, quilting, potting, smiling and helping--the actions rather than things framed--can stay for outward peace that grows and grows. I smiled first as your reader, but I'll be thinking about the rest for quite a while.

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    1. I was struck on the "impermanence" of the work process ~ After the viewing the canvas of salt, these are scraped, collected and thrown back to the sea by the artist and the commnunity ~ I agree on the actions that keep on growing like a tree ~ Thanks Susan ~

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    2. O yes, I have heard of that practice! In some shamanistic healing as well. Thank you for reminding me. Peace.

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  5. Instead... maybe if everyone did this we would have peace... Love the stanza on helping your neighbour.. yes peace starts there... why is it hard? It's natural and easy. You show the way, let's make a quilt :-)

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  6. this is great grace... peace starts in the small things we do for others.. and from there spreads... true that.. love how you wove in the salt pic as well

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  7. I know this sounds naïve but why does peace have to be so hard. Here's to starting small and letting it grow.

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  8. I love how you remind us that world peace is the responsibility of every one of us - and it from the small kindnesses and acts of geerosity that we do every day that it can be built.

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  9. You are streaming peace through such kind, thoughtful acts.

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  10. Kindness emerges in all measures, and love knows no parameters; this piece is so very powerful, beautiful, honest, meticulous, mesmerizing, & heart colorful. Like others here, I endorse your insights and pieces of solution, that when we find the peace within, we reach out to the world around us and spread the sea salt of our inner truth as far as it can sprinkled; thanks.

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  11. The second to the last verse, love it!! Then I will add,

    Instead
    I dream of fantasy in the couch
    On the yellow brick road; won't rush
    Drunk to stupor of merriment
    Maybe peace would find my planet!

    I love your concept! With such expression!

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    1. I love it when our verses spark each other, thank you ~

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  12. Beautiful response, Grace... and isn't that where peace begins? You are brilliant

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  13. Grace, don't tell anyone, but this is my favorite so far. The thing is, while we have high aspirations for peace, it isn't going to happen until we each are able to have the kind of inner peace your images represent.

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  14. YES!!!!!! This is EXACTLY how peace begins....and then ripples outwards. Wonderful, Grace!

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  15. Peace is indeed found in the acts of kindness. Beautiful writing.

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  16. Hauntingly elegaic Grace - my favourite piece of the night.. With Best Wishes Scott www.scotthastie.com

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  17. Very well thought of! Yes, peace is open for us if we care to be aware of them. Brilliant take Grace!

    Hank

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  18. Love this poem! It's not enough to write about peace! We have to live our lives in a way that brings about peace!

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  19. I enjoyed your though-provoking poem Grace and its imagery, particularly that of the women making a quilt. I also liked the salt works you chose to illustrate your poem.

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  20. Beautiful! Perhaps that last stanza is the key to our immortality...

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  21. to return to the sea.. such a sweet notion. and i like you optimism in this one. also love the artwork. it pulls you in.

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  22. Awful lot of work when you can just beat peace into your poetry with a large stick.

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    1. I believe the process was therapeutic to the artist ~ Smiling back to you Mark ~

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  23. peace is being meticulous in whatever we do for others.......beautifully expressed......

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  24. Yes. I love the implication that peace exists in our daily life, in encounters with others and within ourselves, and in the kindness and simplicity of living.

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  25. well put - I like the way you make peace accessible.

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  26. A lovely, lovely poem. We are all indeed part of the same whole, and we will all mix and mingle in the end. So, peace *should* be easy...

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  27. Peace starts in the heart with caring..you have shown this in your poem..

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  28. I like the way you wove this poem of peace.....beautiful!

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  29. women are peacemakers, men are warwagers, by and large, I think

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  30. I like the way you demonstrate peace in one's own personal life spreads through kindness.

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  31. I love the way you developed the theme of Peace, Grace. How wonderful is that that by doing little acts of kindness and love to those around us promotes peace. :-)

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  32. ahh Grace yes... it comes and flows through small acts of kindness and love. Beautiful writing!

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  33. this is beautiful, Grace - each catalog a glimpse of - showing, not telling, twice - if that makes sense? the snippets show people living peace, and you show.

    a good week to you... ~ M

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  34. I was struck by the metaphor of painting with salt as an example of living peace since historically it as access to sufficient salt that maintained the armies and the wars. No salt available - no army - no war.

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