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.
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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:
ReplyDelete‘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’.
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." 💖💖
ReplyDeleteLove 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!
ReplyDeleteLovely storytelling style of this tale, with an owl that has a message
ReplyDeleteMakes you wonder just who's teaching who to fly here. Lovely take.
ReplyDeleteI love your take on this Grace. Very well written.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poem!
ReplyDeleteDear 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...
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
ReplyDeleteThe owl as your muse ~~ I love this.
ReplyDeleteWe chose the save painting. Your poem is intriguing
ReplyDeleteMucj♡love
NIcely done Grace.
ReplyDeleteSo beautifully done. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhen 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.
ReplyDeleteI love this stanza! I speaks to the poet-journey: Then he points to me a pen
ReplyDeleteNudging me to write my words
Listen to my tides & heartbeat
Grow my own feet & feathered wings
Map and unmap my journey
"Listen to my tides & heartbeat
ReplyDeleteGrow 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.
Hi Grace, a lovely interpretation of this picture. I love owls 🦉. Robbie Cheadle
ReplyDeleteLovely and wise, Grace.
ReplyDeleteNice write. I like it. 👍
ReplyDeleteI used this picture too.
I love this, but especially the ending, such a powerful sense of self-discovery.
ReplyDelete