Tuesday, June 4, 2024

the owl and me

 

The owl gave me a book

I was excited to open it

Is it a book of wisdom?

So I can follow it, a river

ever flowing, a bird knowing

its way home


But when I read it, what came

To me is a cacophony of sad poems

The melancholy of death songs

The owl looks at me

His bulging eyes filled with questions

His huge body carved by half-moon

Unmoved by my restless hands


Then he points to me a pen

Nudging me to write my words

Listen to my tides & heartbeat

Grow my own feet & feathered wings

Map and unmap my journey


I want to fly to the sky, I say 

The owl is still, waiting for me

I scratch the pages with ink

I scour the edges with electric

moods and soulful dances

A flow of energy curls within, crisp as rain

I lose myself in the salt of verses

and valley of melodies and refrains


I forget where I am

Standing on a tree of life 

Singing to the wind - my song



Artist:    Catrin Welz-Stein



Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - PoeticsdVerse Poets Pub - Poetics hosted by Lillian Hallberg.   Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.   

22 comments:

  1. Love how you find your own voice instead of the dirge given to you by the owl... we need to write our own poems, find our own voice... that is what the owl taught I think.

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  2. I love that you found a whole story in the image, Grace, the relationship between the owl and the speaker, and the ‘cacophony of sad poems’. I love these lines when the speaker was encouraged to:
    ‘Listen to my tides & heartbeat
    Grow my own feet & feathered wings
    Map and unmap my journey’
    and
    ‘A flow of energy curls within, crisp as rain’.

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  3. A gorgeous ekphrastic poem here, Grace! I especially love this part; "A flow of energy curls within, crisp as rain/I lose myself in the salt of verses/and valley of melodies and refrains." 💖💖

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  4. Love how you've created an entire story in describing the image....am particularly smitten by the 3rd stanza and these words "the salt of verses." I think Catrin is going to love your poem!

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  5. Lovely storytelling style of this tale, with an owl that has a message

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  6. Makes you wonder just who's teaching who to fly here. Lovely take.

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  7. I love your take on this Grace. Very well written.

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  8. Dear Grace - I am a geographer - you had me at "Map and unmap my journey..." . This was the picture I was least tempted by but you have made something wonderful of it...

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  9. The owl gave you his sorrow and asked you to write your joy so that you could soar. I like this owl! I loved the poem.

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  10. The owl as your muse ~~ I love this.

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  11. We chose the save painting. Your poem is intriguing

    Mucj♡love

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  12. So beautifully done. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. When the student is ready the teacher appears, but in this story who is the teacher and who is the learner is uncertain. I like the spin you put on the image, Grace.

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  14. I love this stanza! I speaks to the poet-journey: Then he points to me a pen

    Nudging me to write my words

    Listen to my tides & heartbeat

    Grow my own feet & feathered wings

    Map and unmap my journey

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  15. "Listen to my tides & heartbeat
    Grow my own feet & feathered wings
    Map and unmap my journey" and "Standing on a tree of life
    Singing to the wind - my song"

    Sometimes we spend so much time wanting to be someone else when what is needed is to learn to become our own selves, I really love this poem, Grace, I've read it several times already.

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  16. Hi Grace, a lovely interpretation of this picture. I love owls 🦉. Robbie Cheadle

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  17. I love this, but especially the ending, such a powerful sense of self-discovery.

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  18. I especially love these lines:
    “ I lose myself in the salt of verses
    and valley of melodies and refrains

    I forget where I am
    Standing on a tree of life
    Singing to the wind - my song”

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  19. You made delicious lemonade from the lemons the owl gave you! Grace, what a beautiful story you crafted.

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