NILE
Its source:
The hidden trees, the lost lakes
Shrouded in perpetual snows;
Remotest peaks unseen by human eyes
Swathed in cirrus and cumulus
(The distant roar of
A thousand, thousand cataracts)
And as it rushes toward an infinite sea
Just its overflow is gift,
Is life
And am I not
Your Egypt,
The numberless humming chants
Of incense-wreathed priests
The shake of the sistrum, the breath of
Papyrus bloom;
The still-heard echo of those
Thousand, thousand years?
LAST NIGHT THE HORSES
Last night again I saw the horses
Outlined gray against a charcoal sky,
Their manes flying behind them,
Their hooves spark-stricken on black rocks.
When they slowed to drink
At a spring of shimmering water
Their sides heaved and glistened.
I can't say I caught them unawares.
From the corners of their eyes they saw me approach.
But the water was so cool and satisfying
That they drank, and drank, and drank.
Now they are refreshed, and I--
I ride close to them
Bent against the velocity
On a collision course with forever.
JOURNEY
Though I have traveled away from,
My heart turns toward
There remains no name in my soul's lexicon
For this ache;
A hurting that is dulled only by
The constant mining of the
Riches of memory.
The baring of myself continues
And reproduces itself like mindless amoeba.
It cannot exist without
Its own confession of itself
To you, the object of all,
The point of my nakedness.
What I have traveled away from,
My heart turns toward;
I am breaking all the rules of
My childhood's dearly-held autonomy;
Giving you that which could not be
Bought or beaten from me before.
In anguish, I traveled away from.
Now, my heart turns toward
You:
Your eyes, my mecca,
Your touch, my home.
LOVER
You are the mellow-muted sounds
Of a deep-throated clarinet
Playing alone
In a resonant hall
My young-girl ears heard the melody
So long ago
I dared not believe in
The coming crescendo
Because the music was so distant
And I,
So unworthy.
And yet
When I heard it again
I knew it
As if time had never passed:
You alone are the concert
That satisfies my soul
21 comments:
Gorgeous, Latayne. Believe it or not, I'm talking about poetry today over at Seekerville, and how poetic techniques can strengthen your fiction writing.
A few months ago, I wanted to see if anyone was following our poetry page on my group blog. So I put a really sexual poem about how the union between man and woman represents our relationship with God and then opened up the comment section. Since no one complained, I safely assumed no one was reading it. LOL.
Yes, Dina, I wonder if most Christians would be shocked if they really sat down and digested the Song of Solomon. Whoa. Hands dripping with myrrh on the handle of the lock.......
Latayne...gifted poet you truly are. Just beautiful!
Song of Solomon...I thought of this the whole time I was reading your words...
I love loved the "Last Night With the Horses"...such an image of strength and beauty it gave. Thank you for sharing. Beautiful, bold, and tasteful.
Thank you, Ashten.
I tell you what the "test" of tastefulness is: I once read "Last Night the Horses" as a guest speaker in one of my daughter's college classes.
Later, when she got married, she had the minister, who performed the wedding, read "Lover" as part of the ceremony.
I love that you shared your sensuous poetry today. I wonder what some Christians would think of calling God our "Lover"...I think it's beautiful. But who knows what some would think! Yikes!
Speaking of subjects that many Christians think shouldn't be touched in our fiction...well, my blog has a doozy today. I put out a challenge and friends gave me ideas. One of the ideas made me sweat and feel sick to my stomach and made me so afraid as a Christian who writes. It's a dangerous topic. I wrote it. It's on my blog today. And I'm a little afraid I'll be banned from the CBA for the rest of my natural life.
{breathe, Susie, breathe}
LOL to Susie and Latayne. I guess it's probably a good thing that certain people "don't get" poetry.
Susie, have you read Michelle Sutton's novel Never Without Hope? If she hasn't been banned from CBA, I think we're all safe here in Mermaid Land.
Wow, Susie. I read today's post and indeed it did make me squirm. But-- how can we as writers help people with such urges if we cannot address them?
You won't be banned from CBA. I hope.
Dina, tell us about Michelle's new novel, please, or give us an excerpt.
Latayne, I'd give you an excerpt, but it would make even me blush. LOL. It's about an unfaithful wife. There is some pretty harsh language, especially when the other wife finds out.
What I found most interesting was that in the early stages of the affair, Michelle glosses over any details and has most of the physical stuff off screen. But as the protagonist starts falling in love with the man, there are some fairly explicit details in the sex scenes. I thought it was pretty smart to handle it that way.
All the while, the character is a Christian, and we take an emotional journey with her through the entire process and experience the ways the Lord is dealing with her. I wouldn't necessarily say that this is a "beautiful" novel, but it's powerful and very brave. I'm not sure that the publisher was technically "CBA," but they are obviously Christian.
Okay here goes...My husband and I love being together! Yep, I wrote it and I believe God's thrilled that we do.
Next...
Loved this line "On a collision course with forever."
I will come back to read this poetry again.
~ Wendy
Oh my. So beautiful. Yes, sensual. Human and divine. Thanks, Latayne.
Latayne and Dina, thanks for the encouragement. It truly means a lot to me. I love all my Novel Matters friends!
And, Wendy, you're right. God rejoices in our righteous "knowing" of our husbands. A strong marriage can be great fruit in our lives.
Thank you so much for the poetry! "My whole being is satisfied as with marrow and fatness." Ps 63:5
The literal world has turned 'virtual' into something bland and blatant while the literary world holds fast to the suggestive...and seductive.
And worry thyself not, I go back in 6 months.
Dina, thank you for that description. What a powerful way to deal with the concept of adultery.
Wendy and Susie and Henrietta, you are dears. I kiss you right on the forehead.
Patti, I kiss you twice. Because I know you better.
Henrietta, I understand the wait and see diagnoses. I am praying for you.
Mmmm. Journey and Lover resonate. Beautiful.
Dina: I wonder if the Seekerville poetry corner is deserted in part because as children we were taught poetry criticism rather than appreciation, and now, as adults we fear that reading poetry is a covert IQ test, something we don't really 'fail', but that might reveal we are flying with clipped wings.
Or, in the newly dubbed Mermaidland: swimming with half a tail.
Ugh, Bonnie. I definitely had that teacher in highschool. Thankfully my creative writing classes cured me and taught me to love poetry.
Oh, and the poetry page was actually on Inkwell Inspirations, although I'm a guest on Seekerville today. We gave the page a gallant try. I'm sure I'll stay stick some poetry in my posts on a occasion.
Latayne, thank you, thank you for these. They are beautiful. Nile, I think, is my favorite. It makes me think of how little we know about each other, or even ourselves, how little we understand the sacredness of even those closest to us. We get the overflow. And that is a gift.
Nicole, I love it....
Bonnie and Dina, I think we were taught to dread poetry in school by people who didn't understand it and used it as a weapon. Really.
Katy, I kinda like Nile too. :)
Fine poems, Latayne. You have the true gift. My favorite among them is whichever one I just finished reading.
Whoa! That is quite a compliment coming from Donn Taylor who is the go-to poetry guy at a lot of Christian writing conferences.
I asked him, and his next two workshops are at the East Texas Christian Writers Conference at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, TX, on October 28 and 29, 2011; and at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference (BRMCWC) at Ridgecrest, NC, on May 20-24, 2012.
In addition, he blogs on poetry each third Friday on the Christian Authors Network blog, http://canblog.typepad.com/
So, thank you, Donn!
The poems are lovely, Latayne. I esp. like Journey
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