Ear
What it does rhymes
with what it is,
though sometimes it
needs aid or deft fingers
to do what it does.
It can be cupped, boxed,
lent or bent.
Many pierce and adorn it,
making it art.
One artist sliced it off,
then bandaged and painted it.
When new, it is sweet
as a delicate shell
but will enlarge with age,
outgrowing it's space.
It remembers always being
shell-like and harkens back
to its origin when consoled
by the Source.
Written for Poetics — in Schiller's footsteps — at dVerse Poets. To close out the celebration of the one-year anniversary of dVerse, Claudia Schoenfeld's prompt invites us "to observe someone or something and describe what you see."
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smiles...like our noses it keeps growing....dang i am in bad shape already...smiles....i rather like the fold of an ear....
ReplyDeleteThose last four lines are just inspired, girl. I love this.
ReplyDeleteI giggled at the part about an ear outgrowing its space. I love old people with big ears.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Fireblossom - the last lines blew me away!
what i like much is tha...but will enlarge with age...usually we tend to hear less good when getting older but those that practice their hearing in a good way will become better and better to really hear..i like
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Lydia,
ReplyDeleteon all of that.
You have given us an eye-full,
and thus an ear-full.
Brian~ Yup, that growth is confounding. I like that fold, too, and respect the ear. :)
ReplyDeleteFireblossom~ Your comment made me feel great! Thanks.
Amber Lee~ Thank you! I love that you have such a tender heart.
Claudia~ Wow, let's hope that in this case practice really does make perfect. :)
Rob-bear~ Clever Bear, thanks much.
Great details in this one, Lydia. I loved the bit about the ear outgrowing its space--makes me think of a guy at a show I saw the other night--I think his pseudo mohawk was supposed to distract from his large ears but only made them look more prominent!
ReplyDeleteNicely writ. I must add that as I have gotten older I have found that hair likes to grow in my ears. I have several children (adults) who like to point this out. I tell them that it is my ear's way of saying there's some things it would rather not hear. : )
ReplyDeletethejuliebook~ Thank you for your visit and comment. How anyone would think a Mohawk could diminish the appearance of the ears is beyond me!
ReplyDeletemythopolis~ Thanks much. That is something that happens to guys, it seems. Have one of your children do a good turn for you and use some tweezers to get the ones in view. I do that for my husband when he asks (although his wincing means it hurts).
I never thought in depth about ears but, they are all of this, aren't they, and, they do somehow outgrow their space the older we get.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely read.
there is a school of thought that says that Van Gough actually lost the ear in a duel with his friend Cezanne when they fell out over a woman
ReplyDeleteASL (American Sign Language)comes mostly from the french LSF and was brought over by Galludet, whose name still belongs to the American university for the Deaf.
ASL and LSF are both mainly one handed sign languages, where as BSL (British Sign Language) is two handed
Loved the poem
I always thought that when one went deaf that meant that the sounds coming in were reduced to the point of smaller decibel level. Not true! What happens is that certain frequencies are reduced, muddled, so that words are harder to determine because of the lack of normal detection ability. Tis true.
ReplyDeleteFrom one who knows, or appears to.
'consoled by the Source'
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful phrase you've coined for describing our ultimate destination and the mystery of its Reality.
Daydreamertoo~ Thank you for pausing with me to consider ears!
ReplyDeletePixies~ I read your interesting comment in the afternoon before leaving to run errands. At the farm store (bird feeding supplies, yard & flowers etc.) the lines were long at every cashier because there was a one-day 25% off sale. It gave me an opportunity to people-watch. Over at the next counter was a large family and two of the children were conversing in sign language. ASL, because they each used one hand. I had never noticed or thought about a difference in sign languages, so thank you for the awareness!
goatman~ I am sorry that you might be having first-hand experience with the information you gave us. I think that as we get older not one of us escapes some hearing loss, especially those in the live concerts generations!
susan~ Oh, how we connect, my dear friend.