Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Let it bleed



Let it bleed

There's this woman
made of paper & cardboard

When it rains, she wrinkles

Under the sun, she is veins
pulsing of energy

She allows colors

to seep out of her 
words, skin, hair, mouth

She threads pain

with double knots
underneath her ribs

At night she sews her hands

with wires
By morning, she is fist & 
birthing

of things she

passionately believes
& endures
folding, refolding, unfolding, folding

She is content with 
distance of moon & stars,
changing sea tides, storms, thaw-
She knows what she can change
and what she can't

Her body is canvas, 
inked by earth, wind & sky.

One day I will unravel her  


light
fervor 
ardent words  

inside of me.  


And let it all bleed.


Posted for OpenLinkNight of D'verse Poets Pub - Thanks for the visit ~

Also please check out my lune poems as Personal Challenge from Michael (or grapeling) here ~  

69 comments:

  1. Nicely 'threaded' and 'sewn' poem, Grace. I especially liked the lines about birthing things that she passionately believes .....and that she knows what she can change and what she cannot. We all have to learn that, I think!

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    1. The picture is an inspiration ~ Thank you Mary ~

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  2. to be content with distance of moon & stars

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  3. such women , i guess hides in us too

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  4. This is beautiful...I wonder is this woman metaphorical or literal. Regardless, thank you for sharing her story with us :)

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    1. A lifetime goal, our mothers and grandmothers if we are lucky, are proof ~ Thanks Keith ~

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  5. really enjoyed this, Grace! love the paper and cardboard wrinkle in rain, thaws folding unfolding, sewed wire hands and know what she can and cannot change. this has so much, irony, relateable metaphors. very nice, mi amiga

    now, will you please take your frigid temperatures back up north :-) Brrrrrr!

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    1. oh please, we are suffering enough already ~ today with wind chill its -30 C ~ hey, we like the sun too, smiles ~

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  6. Love, love, love, this. A new personal favorite and one that seemed to really reach into the core of me.

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  7. how cool is that...much better than stone... the interaction with the elements...the penetrability.... openness... connection with the elements...so very cool

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    1. Yes, that is what I thought so too ~ Thanks for the lovely words Claudia ~

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  8. Sway with the wind and rain, bending and never breaking, way to be at ones sea

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  9. So lovely, like music to my eyes!

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  10. Many of us would be a lot happier if we realized what we could change and what we couldn't. Well done, Grace. Have a beautiful and and as always, thank you!

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  11. An amazing write. Dare I say, one of your best? Imagery and nuance illuminate the page with depth of meaning.

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  12. This is quite amazing, beauty, power and grace all entwined. The power of letting it bleed, through the open veins, ink, all such awesome images. This is an amazing poem.

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  13. I wrote a poem about letting my words bleed...I have not finished it. This resonates with me today.

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  14. wow, very creative and amazing... esp liked

    "She threads pain
    with double knots
    underneath her ribs" this really moved me... no one should hold on so tightly to their pain... but sometimes it certainly does feel like it's sewn to us... been guilty of that myself...

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  15. This is really, really wonderful! You speak for Woman herself: there is an organic, mineral quality to her, paper and cardboard, beaten by the elements, folding and unfolding, the pains and the joys, the wisdom and... out of it we try to bleed those words. I love almost every single line of it!

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  16. Somehow the woman you portrayed reminds me of Penelope, weaving and unweaving with dogged persistence. You got great inspiration from the statue, Grace!

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  17. Great metaphor for the inner self. Enjoyed this.

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  18. Amazingly rendered, Grace. I love the raw feeling within the entirety and this really struck me,

    "she is fist &
    birthing

    of things she
    passionately believes"

    Yes, beauty.

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  19. Oh must you unravel her? She worked so hard to keep it in, and if she bleeds so much I think she'll die!

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    1. Well that is quite a perspective M ~ I would like to believe she knows when to keep it in, and when to bleed it out ~ Thanks ~

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  20. Her body is canvas,
    inked by earth, wind & sky.


    So many of us have our life-histories etched into our skin by the elements - and into our minds by our circumstances and the things that are done to us, whether we are willing or not.

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  21. This has power, Grace. Beautiful work.

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  22. Thoughtful, well-rendered, passionate. At night she sews her hands with wires.. that is so cool... and the end when one day you will unravel her.. of course. Love it..

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  23. Yes..i suppose sculpture is always blessed with the now of no
    thought..
    And to let it be like that..
    is a goal..i like to take..
    and even path..
    to BE...

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  24. and oh
    what a release of letting go
    at last

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  25. Is this woman empirical or just poetical? Whatever. I wish I could sit for coffee with her. <3

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    1. I used the artist work & ideas for my words ~ But she can be real, smiles ~

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  26. An interesting post that I enjoyed reading.

    Thank you. Love love, Andrew. Bye.

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  27. I like how what she knows she can change allows her to be content.

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  28. A terrific hook for the poem, the impermanence of a paper sculpture, vs. stone, wood, concrete, steel--more like the fragility of humans; great ride; best of the day.

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    1. Impermanence and resilience, Thank you Glenn ~

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  29. This is a woman who has traveled a journey and demonstrates resilience...

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  30. that's quite a twist, Grace, moving from the abstract other to the very personal thou ~

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    1. thou - the last time I used this was in my Philosophy class, smiles ~ Thanks M ~

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  31. Grace - such a powerful poem you have here. Admire it.

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  32. All which life has done to me--and my reluctant acceptance, makes up who I am. And yet, there is always time left to change...everything. I cannot make those changes alone. Awakening--creepily slow, or sudden--will come when I am open my mind, become willing, and honest. IOW, when I am ready.

    How simply and beautifully you write with such depth. Words which have huge meaning.
    Amazing, Grace.

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  33. A woman of grace putting up so much to be admired. Strength of character and resilience seem so appropriate to her. Nicely Grace!

    Hank

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  34. Beautifully written Grace. Such a strong yearning, yet bound in a painful hesitation here. I want you to free her! I love this. Beautiful!

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  35. That's a beautiful poem. This woman made of cardboard is inside all of us.

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  36. How beautiful, Grace. How beautiful--the wrinkles, veins, pulsing and colors bleeding from the cardboard and paper lady--the threading, knotting sewing--but especially the folding and re- and un-. So content, such a canvass! To internalize her would be to bleed indeed.

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  37. …”she is content with / distance of moon & stars”---I, also, like these lines, Grace… she’s such a woman of grace… I loved it! smiles…

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  38. I commented and it vanished so if it pops up again, please feel free to delete.
    Once again you have 'graced' us with your stunning words, I gave a gentle sigh when I read this. We are her. This is sublime.

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  39. A beautiful portrait of woman's strength and resilience.

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  40. wow...i love how you have painted her....fists and birthing on waking....
    the fierceness and the contentment, it paints her from different angles
    i like the textures too of wire and cardboard...hard and soft places....

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    1. sorry i am late, my computer crashed and i am on a loner today....

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    2. No worries Brian ~ Thanks for the visit ~

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  41. Absolutely fascinating character you've created. Love the imagery.

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  42. Such a passionate write, I really enjoyed it.

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  43. your poem complemented the picture very well. Beautiful writing, Grace. :-)

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  44. I think her description by you represents so many of us...women. The part about enduring and folding, refolding, unfolding...spoke to me of how we adapt and change as our circumstances require. Strong voice in this, Grace...I like that.

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  45. "She allows colors to seep out of her"...such a vivid image. Beautiful

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  46. Her body is canvas,
    inked by earth, wind & sky...


    ...love these lines. The whole piece is full of such life and movement...excellent piece of writing.

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  47. Grace this is gorgeous, every line… I feel her, she is all of us.

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  48. I had to read this a few times over a couple of days, bleeding is for the injured. I will let reality written of show my colors and my distance for the center of the cosmos.

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  49. Such a powerful analogy, Grace. It made me think of a bible quote from St. Paul "We are God's work of art." We are, each of us, made up of many colors and textures and we are fragile and we do, indeed, bleed. Quite beautiful.

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  50. Oh my this is such a powerful poem! I simply love it! I am so glad I visited you here :-) Thank you so much for inspiring me!

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