We take up the pen
to deconstruct our psychic comfort
and use it like a broom
to sweep the dust
from forgotten corners
into the centre of the room.
So much is stored in boxes,
taped shut and packed away
on out of reach shelves
until removal day comes round
and words break the seal
of abandonment.
And ink will get under our nails
as we fill the page with memories
we take with us, and fingers ache
to let go of the old wounds
that possess us, until we learn
to leave them behind.
Izy Gruye invites us to Chew Through Your Own Chains, my first choice for Play It Again! with Real Toads. I have been a teacher since the age of 21, and I love my job but a task I do not enjoy is moving house, but I guess we poets are in the removal business.
Izy, we met in 2010 - a different online space and time - and we have weathered change, distance and the ebb and flow of the online world of poetry blogging. I do hope we will continue to remain in touch in the years to come.
Beautiful, Kerry
ReplyDeleteWrite and remove
Lessen the load
Memory strapped
But share it first
What poems are for
...
In an hour or later please check your email with the address you gave us for Toads. My message may surprise you. I will go now to compose it.
Thank you.
..
Thank you for sharing your thoughts in a poem, Jim.
Delete"And ink will get under our nails as we fill the page with memories we take with us," .. oh my aching heart this is beautiful! ❤️ Though it feels an like end .. let us remain together as we embark upon new journeys and explore new paths. Thank you so much for everything that you do, Kerry!😘😘
ReplyDelete#realtoadsforever
Thank you, Sanaa, for your unwavering loyalty to the ethos of Real Toads. Certainly, we will continue this journey for some time to come.
DeleteWe sweep the dust to the center of the room, and then into the dustpan to be thrown away. Your metaphors here feel apt and painful,Kerry.
ReplyDeleteLove always, Sister... xo M.
Indeed! yet dust seems perennial - a side effect of planetary life, and death.
DeleteI thank you and love you, Sister.
Love it all, esp Stanza 1.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kerry...for everything.
My hat is off.
And I thank you, Ron, for your graciousness.
DeleteThat first line struck deep within me Kerry. Beautiful. And thank you from my heart for all you have done.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words, Linda. I appreciate them.
DeleteLetting ink transform our wounds into something we can carry without feeling raw pain is the best of therapies, I think. It allows us to move on to try new things... And if we need to remember why we shouldn't do X or Y, we can always go back to the ink.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Thank you, Magaly!
DeleteThe ink under our fingernails.......the letting go........and what we keep which, as far as the Imaginary Garden goes, are some of my very BEST poetic memories, inspirations and joys! Thank you for it all, my friend.
ReplyDeleteIn moving forward, it is often difficult to know what to take with you and what to leave behind. I have a very clear idea in my head as this decade draws to its conclusion.
DeleteWe write ourselves inside out. This is beautiful and so fitting for a day of endings. I feel the garden will inspire many who come to it. Words have power. I am so blessed to have been part of it. I will always say with pride, I was a toad.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes... you can take the toad out the garden but we will always be toads!
DeleteThank you, Susie.
You are a wonderful writer, and I know you will continue to be. k.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karin. You have been an important part of this journey, and I echo your words back to you. Your poetic voice has always been an inspiration to me, and I hope to hear it again, one day.
DeleteThis speaks to me of a hard-earned peace and reconciliation of the heart.
ReplyDeleteA culmination, a resolution and a step forward.
DeleteThank you, Shay.
This is a wonderful metaphor... and I feel very much in line with my thoughts regarding the librarian... after all we must also decide what to keep and what to leave behind. I am in the process of emptying my family's home, and the realization that most of the things have to go is hard... but very much needed.
ReplyDeleteI feel you on that issue of packing up someone else's life, when it is hard enough to pack one's own. It is all in the mentality of possession, people, places, items, emotions... all being human, something your librarian understands very well.
DeleteTeachers have a ritual calendar they work by, resting and preparing in the off-season, kicking off things with a flourish on the first day of school, attending to all the tenors and flutters of teaching young minds. It comes to an end ritually as well, and there is that sense of sweeping things out here as a coda to Real Toads, work which you have passionately and endearingly engaged. Feel celebrated and thanked by your tribe, Kerry, and look forward to what's next. One door closes so another may open. Best.
ReplyDeleteYour observation is 100% accurate, Brendan. I have been in the business for over 30 years. One thing they don't tell you when you start is that you will come to love the children you teach and will be forced to say goodbye after 5 years and then you will never see them again, certainly not in the same interactive context. It hit me hard the first couple of years, then I learnt the value of quality time. And that everyone has their time, their season but nothing lasts forever. May trusts is that fond memories will remain, and lessons applied many times over in life. That is certainly true for me - I have learnt much more than I have ever taught.
Delete*My trust is that...*
DeleteTearing up is not helping my typing!
:)
Kerry, this could as well serve for the prompt I chose, yours about finding the poetic voice, for every line of this is ringing with yours, your neatness that I so admire, in finding the best image in the clearest words, your intellect, that sees beyond the surface always,and your poet's heart, that reads aloud what it finds with compassion even when in sorrow.I have grown so much as a poet because your spirit was called to teach, and hopefully, unlike the students who fly the nest forever, us older birds will remain to roost and cluck at each other for many more years. My favorite part of this is "...words break the seal/of abandonment...fingers ache/
ReplyDeleteto let go of the old wounds/ that possess us, until we learn/to leave them behind." One of the best closings ever.
Thank you so much, Joy. As e.e.cummings says so well:
Deletei carry you heart with me (i carry it in my heart)
We never really lose our teachers, mentors, brothers and sisters once the connection is made it is forever.
That pen and ink were the saviors of so many of us, even as we wrestled so hard to get them into a pleasing form. Thank you for providing a place where we could strive and experiment with those words. It is deeply appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rommy. Most certainly, pen and ink saved me.
DeleteBeautiful, Kerry. As always, you inspire me to dig deeper and write better. Thank you for that.
ReplyDeleteAh, thank you so much, Kelli. I am humbled and honoured to be considered an inspiration. We all set the bar so high, and found to our pleasure that we could set it higher still. What a great time it has been!
DeleteI also highlighted the lines Joy did.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kerry.
~Michael
Why we write ... I sit at my desk, tears in my eyes. Your poem reached every corner of my heart, my mind. I will cherish forever these amazing years traipsing thru the Garden with you. Thank you for teaching, inspiring, being YOU.
ReplyDeleteAbove all, I hear courage in these lines – the ability to confront what is so and get on with the job of dealing with it. Yet another example to admire! Meanwhile, yes, the ink will always serve and save us.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks to all for your kind comments. The ties that bind us are ribbons of words in an infinite web of poetry. I am so grateful to have my place on one of those strands.
ReplyDeleteI love the analogy of using our pen like a broom. And I hate to think of all the poems I have abandoned in boxes,back when we wrote on paper and saved everything.
ReplyDeleteThank you.