I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

15 September 2013

Naming the Places

I rest my hands on my body.

This is Belly,
where I round out,
where my breath goes down to,
and flows back up —
Belly, my centre,
below the navel
and just above the swinging hips.
Belly is where I feel solid.
Belly is where I am safe.

Here now is Thigh
spreading firm and warm 
beneath my palm,
settled, substantial, 
not to be ignored —
on which I sit,
with which I walk.
If Belly is nurture,
Thigh is support.

Mother and Father they are
to the child of the mind
which is flighty, and doesn't 
know how to sit down.
I rest my hands on my head,
feeling for Brain —
but Brain is behind the scalp,
and mind anyway is not there,
it is flying.

I bring my hands
to Chest and Midriff —
left across thymus,
right over solar plexus.
These are the centres 
of love and will.
I take a breath,
and think to draw down the mind
but it doesn't come.

These are my Hands.
I rest them on my body.
They are comfortably warm,
somewhere between 
firm and gentle.
I feel my edges,
I feel my bulk.
Also my mind
comes down now into my Hands.

My Hands are writing a poem.


Submitted for Poets United's Verse First: Places you love.

10 comments:

  1. Beautiful. "I wish I had written that."

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  2. Oh, but this took me on a journey. Just gorgeous. Yes, our minds do tend to fly...but how sad if they didn't because we wouldn't have beautiful poetry like this.

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    1. Oh, I quite agree. I actually didn't know where this piece was gong until it got there!

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  3. Rosemary, this is a superb poem! I love your take on this prompt, you've got me thinking of it in a whole new way.

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  4. Very intriguing - and we DO often forget to breath deeply - our lungs need to expand. I have found 10 deep breaths that fill up all the way into my pelvis do so MUCH to energize me. Lately, I do this before grabbing caffeine (except my morning one cup) and it works! Our body as a place - we need to remember to take care of it. Nice.

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    1. Thank you, Margaret. The '10 deep breaths' is a very good tip!

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  5. What a lovely poem honoring all of you.

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