The snow teaches me separateness,
the ice to be hard.
Though I was born in the desert,
where the teachers are sand and rocks,
I could not hear them for my youth.
Now with youth spent I return to hear
the sand admonish me for isolation
and the rocks’ rebuke for a hardened heart.
Now that the curls of time have been
beaten out straight I seek a return to
an earlier language – my own scrawny language,
meager, unable to bear the weight of explanation,
words too remote, isolated, underdetermined.
The years have turned my ears to tin.
My tongue is the knot behind my teeth.
With age isolation calcifies, lost love
becomes a window in the heart,
language an uncertain chant,
youth a snowstorm on the high desert plain.
Not exactly a shoe poem but it has ‘walking’ in the title…fair enough?
dVerse Shoe Night…drop in take ’em off and put your feet up.
Walking in Snow
29 Friday Nov 2013
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Morgan said:
I just love this…So Wonderful!
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Thank you Morgan.
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ann said:
this:
“Now that the curls of time have been
beaten out straight…”
oh, man.
that’s what was waiting to come out all week. this is magic.
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Ronald E. Shields said:
patience, patience, patience…
hope you are finding a bit of writing time somewhere in your hectic day.
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Truedessa said:
Fair enough and I’m glad you shared as I enjoyed your work…
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Thank you Truedessa.
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Quite a stretch I know…thank you for reading and commenting.
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brian miller said:
really a moving piece…the love becoming a window in the heart…the desire as well to return to that earlier language…those last two stanzas in particular, i like much…
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Brian, thanks for reading and commenting on this poem. I really appreciate the flexibility it took to accept this one.
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neenslewy said:
Ohhh brilliant!
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Thank you so much.
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Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Ron, this is a very heartfelt piece. And especially the last stanza is very tight and controlled. The years turned to tin… And somewhere there’s probably shoes
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Ronald E. Shields said:
Thank you for reading and commenting on this poem…I know it is quite a stretch to think of shoes in relation to this one.
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shanyns said:
I’ll take it, though a bit of a stretch! Thanks for sharing this piece for Poetics! 🙂
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Ronald E. Shields said:
I want to thank you for not showing me the door. In the future I shall try to be more disciplined re the actual prompt. I really love the whole dVerse concept and appreciate all the effort the barkeepers invest.
Ron
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shanyns said:
I know you will Ron, and thanks for joining us! Glad you are liking the dVerse concept, it’s a great community with room for more!
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