Sunday, March 4, 2012

Poetics: Awareness of the Experience



 Crosser

One of her problems
is that she is the type who will
cross that bridge
when she comes to it.
She crosses the bridge and then
turns around and crosses it again,
and then doubles back and
each time she crosses the bridge
she remembers who she believes crossed her
and she becomes unhinged, crosser and crosser.
She takes tightrope trips
over the span to scaffolding
that could give a different view of
the bridge, but her views never change.
I fear she will slip one day soon,
falling onto the tracks below,
to a place I passed long ago.
My train of thought then was as it
is now: you structure your own journey--
if you mold yourself into an I-beam
that is your cross to bear.

                                                              MLydiaM ~ March 2012


Submitted for one of the most powerful (for me) prompts ever: Poetics - Awareness of the Experience at dVerse Poets. Sheila's prompt has four remarkable images by digital artist Walter Smith and she asks us to:
• Choose one of Walter’s pieces and write a poem about how it speaks to you – what thoughts, emotions, and images it stirs within you. As you process and write, be aware of what you are experiencing in that moment, and channel it into your writing.

.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

This is a wonderful take on the prompt. i like how you turn the abstract collage into a moment for personal reflection. It seems to me the poem contains a dose of self-irony. I think you're right to caution us not to get stuck in preconceptions, and be willing to change as new awareness arises.

John (@bookdreamer) said...

Nice reflective poem inspired by the prombt

Claudia said...

wow..love this lydia...to me this speaks of being stuck between the worlds somewhere, whatever these words are...going back an forth, investigating the structure scientifically, but still unable to see...def. speaks to me..a fantastic capture

Grace said...

I specially like these lines:

She crosses the bridge and then
turns around and crosses it again,
and then doubles back and
each time she crosses the bridge
she remembers who she believes crossed her
and she becomes unhinged, crosser and crosser.

Beautiful poem ~

Deborah said...

Ooh Lydia this is just brilliant, it made me tingle ... I'm going to read it again!

sheila said...

oh, Lydia, I am so glad that this was such a powerful prompt for you. What you did with it is truly compelling. the play on the word "cross" is not only deep in meaning but also a bit light-hearted in a way that made me smile.

crossing over and back over that bridge reminds me of a particular definition of insanity - "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

and her blaming others instead of looking at her part - ugh, all of those resentments. If we hold onto them, it is def a cross to bear - one which I no longer care to carry.

Very, very impressive write! thank you.

Brian Miller said...

nice...love the play on 'crosser' crossing and re-crossing that bridge....man we wear them out sometimes dont we...sometimes even unable to see that we do it until someone points it out to us...

Unknown said...

I know this woman. It seems to never stop!Over and over...until it's to late.Then the somber ending is tragic with still no lesson learned. Marvelous!

Wander said...

Very good poem Lydia, very good!

Wander

ds said...

I. Love. This. Brilliant metaphor. Thank you, Lydia.

Anonymous said...

It reminds me of myself in some ways. So interesting.

Rob-bear said...

The word play is awesome!

Yet the story is so sad.

There is a huge amount of sadness these days.

I wonder why that is.

naomi dagen bloom said...

Very powerful. Though you meant it another way, it is political from my perspective.

Lydia said...

Charles Miller~ I really appreciated your comment and the observation about self-irony was great, too.

John @bookdreamer~ Thank you. This particular prompt did indeed inspire reflection.

Claudia~ Many thanks, and especially for this insight: investigating the structure scientifically, but still unable to see...

Grace~ Those are the lines I like best, too. Thank you.

Deborah~ I so appreciate it. Based on one of our early communications, perhaps you guessed who this might describe...

Sheila~ Your comment means so much. It was such a cathartic prompt for me and I am most grateful. Your mention about resentment and putting it behind you totally resonates with me. Thank you.

Brian~ Thank you. ...until someone points them out to us is true, and also true is that what we find most troubling in others often are traits we need to most take a good look at in ourselves. I'm not blind to the fact that this poem describes me also (hopefully mostly in the past because I have worked to be rid of such resentment).

wurdz~ Thanks much. So you recognized the person, or the type of person! How comforting to know that I am not alone in worrying about someone....

Wander~ Thanks. Seeing your name reminds me of the quote "All who wander are not lost" but that would not necessarily be true of one who wandered back and forth over the same old territory/issues!

ds~ I.love.that.you.love.it. Thank you so much.

Amber Lee~ How honest you are. It is a beautiful trait!

Rob-bear~ Thank you for your kind comments about the poem. Do you find that there is a lot of sadness in general or did you mean here at my blog in particular of late? I do think I have been a bit of a downer because of mourning the loss of my dog....plus there is this underlying issue that crept up in the last few weeks that I addressed in this poem. Obviously, I am trying to figure out how best to deal with a difficult and worrisome situation.

naomi~ Now that you mention it (as only you could), seeing this from a political slant works for me too. You sure are marvelous.

izzy said...

Well the poem ain't lost on this human! thanks- We do kill the rails!
(although the wood may give out first)
I just peeled another layer off my understanding about fixing the inside
and leaving the outer conditions
alone! B.B.p.417
:)

Anne Frank said...

Hey Lydia!! Last week I was passing through a bridge and I also get inspired by it, and what I was going to write was something very very close to what you wrote. I can definetely see myself portrayed on it. Congratulations for your blog and your writing!! Follow you!

susan said...

It all follows very nicely indeed.

Misterio Vida said...

adventurous poem Lydia..i just imagined falling down from the scaffold and it give me shivers :(

keep going ...

Lydia said...

izzy~ You are so great. Thank you for the B.B. citation. I read it immediately and, of course, it was exactly what I needed.

Anne Frank~ I thank you for your generous comments. Want you to know how much I admire Anne Frank and obviously you do also because you have made her your blog personality. How interesting!

susan~ Ha! Thanks, and as Muhammad Israr mentioned below, it's best to just keep going....

Muhammad Israr~ ...Keep going made me smile. :) Thank you for calling the poem "adventurous."

twinkly sparkles said...

Lydia,

I love this poem. It is clever and rich. I love the puns, and unlike most puns, they are not silly, but add gravitas. How did you do that?

Merci, Madame! I haven't visited in a while, but I am so glad I did now!

K

Lydia said...

twinkly K~ Wow, I must tell you that your comment just made my day.
Sometimes a piece just flows out of us, and this one was that kind of experience for me...

newdigitalscapes said...

Hi Lydia. Thank you for the interesting and beautiful reflection on my piece. I like that sense of crossing and crossing again and again. The poem resonates well with the intent of my piece. I've always associated it with the ambiguities of life. I like writing short poems and prose with my art. Please stop by my blog and select the "poetry" tag to check out some of my writing. I enjoyed your poem, and will subscribe to read more from you.

newdigitalscapes said...

Sheila your anaylsis is right on and Lydia you conveyed it so well...there was a sense of insanity during this period for me. Being an addict at the time... is repetitive in nature and a function of insanity. Only now after 10 years of soberiety is there a true sense of awareness and sanity.

Lydia said...

newdigitalscapes~ Don't know if you happened to read my profile writeup, but it mentions that I have 26 years of sobriety...and I imagine my past is one reason why this piece spoke to me so strongly. I so appreciate your comments, and am truly honored that you liked my "reflection" on this amazing work. Am humbled that you would chose to subscribe to me and look forward to reading your poetry.
Many thanks for such an inspiring piece.

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