Tending
Tender care
For another being.
Identifying that your
Presence and attention
Deliver more than what was
Possible without your intervention.
God to creation, gardener to garden.
Husband to family, Mother to children.
Soldier to country, Poet to human being.
My early poems were childish.
Then again I was a child.
Lenses down
Sight bubbles
Faceless forms
Busy cutting
Head vibrates
Blur tremors
Walls reflect
What I cannot see
Busy people
“Looking good”
Cell stacks
Aged clippings
Fall slowly
Swept away
Cheerful chatter
Finishing with a new me
For Granny
The sun is always
shining on The Road.
It’s the place I go
to be with them,
my ancestors,
my fellows, my friends.
It is where I walk
quietly, alone
Thinking of days past
and lives well lived.
There’s no time
Out on The Road
Out of the hustle and
Bustle of everyday lives,
Just the place
where I keep walking,
talking with the
Ones I Love.
Elizabeth Sutherlin, March 7, 1917 – October 1, 2013
Without Constraint there is only Chaos,
Without Chaos there can be no Creation.
In between Leaders are forged by the pressure.
Wisdom is knowing the Fire from the Anvil.
Leadership is wielding the Hammer without vanquishing the Flame.
(A Keatsian Formatic)
I
Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, Keats — Blake, Wordsworth, Whitman, Shelley, Byron, Yeats & Williams;
more whom I may not name here,
Have created a creature beyond Plot, Setting, Scene, or Character. Illuminate, These great ones do, that which is past this tier
Of Human understanding & take us
To ancient realms, where Pithy Poesy rules
The words & truths that are the essences
Of Inspiration: The ‘Prolific Schools.’
2
In this summer, our bounty breeds delight
Full of thoughtful thoughts which wild wisdom breeds.
With concentrated contemplations we
Shall resolve to evolve, finding the right
Means & Methods in everything we read;
For Pithy Poetry provides Suns to see
In and beyond our shadows of a thought.
That blind & enlighten our ev’ryday’s
Search for Truths, which some have found, but few sought.
“Prolific Poesy show us newer ways!”
3
It does respond, this Mythic Immortal,
Who thrives in pages by Sages who’ve tried
To tame that beast of Thought, which rages on,
Inside their minds defying ritual,
For when it strikes no Muse can turn aside
These willful words which shall prevail anon.
The call is heard, from mindful men who speak,
By this Creature of their creation, who
In reply gives voice to that which they seek
And offers Time to words which we hold true.
4
O, pithy Poesy, Praises shall be sung
To thee that is the essence of out hearts
for you tell us of Wisdom Truth & Right.
It is through you that the passionate young
find their rhymes of Love. Your meanings can start
Pure Wars, and fan the flames for a Just Fight,
Where Freedom frees Spirits for the pursuits
Of Love & Peace, so we may grow fruits
For proliferating purity, and
Once again reap from a civilized land.
(A Keatsian Formatic)
1
What subtle leaf plays havoc on my cheek? Wild westward wind blew thee into my hand.
Proponderance —*my mind sets forth to seek; Violent beauty laid waste across the land.
“Fall Sentients, tribute Profundity!” Gods flow forth beneath its omniscient stance;
With bowed heads, thin grasps take up marbl’d capes; Fair beings, lost, regain humanity.
Mythic response to endings seen short glance. Sun eclipsing, shallow graves, pull forth escapes.
2
Rise up thou used living dead. Be led Unto simpler, easy thoughts. No more Shall it be asked that Ponderance be fed.
Close, you, your mind to stairwell leading doors. Why worry one’s self with wild willful thoughts? No need to seek the deep, un-navigat’d Terrain, which leads unto pure divine Expressions. Shun such petty useless rot.
“I shall not let this be negotiated! O, Profundity, save this soul of mine!”
3
Dig deep, trench through, swallow the sallow soil, Until the reflection of self is seen.
Fallen creatures abashed by earthen toil.
Bear on, oh Brother Slayer, hands washed clean. Deserted plains produced sane green sages—
Tablet law from mountains for moral men—
Symbolic wood, blood stained, forgave wrongs done. Ancient ways trampl’d under war hooves’ rages, ‘Til submissive souls sang the song of sin
Never to understand—why? “Holy Son!”
4
“Profundity, why dost thou madness bring?”
Unto Poetic Genius a gift,Yet some sad souls sit shattered by your sting.
Between extremes, plain thoughts are free to drift. We shall not let these blanket us in cold,
For, once settled, stale shovels dare not dig, Since plugged-in gods make minds afraid to stand, And have one thought, original, be told. All this calamity from one truth fig?
Last sweet morsel. Rejoice! Now dreams command.
*
Proponderance – the mental action or process that occurs prior to the consideration of a profound thought.