| Author | Message | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 116 Registered: 12-2004 |
(for Rajah, Cash, and Lucy) Dogs are like that they don't question anything and whatever you're doing all they want is just to be there with you, tail wagging slightly, head canted to one side, not expecting anything especially but ready to welcome it all, so when Barbara announces there's a dead Cardinal by the kitchen door, well, not really the corpse entire, but just its head, Murphy, who usually shows no interest in what comes after unless it comes in a can takes up his vigil nonetheless, dutifully, the way a dog will know from some long ago life, while I get the shovel and dig a little bird hole and drop the remains in without any attempt at ceremony, certainly not the way I might have done it a few years back when I was prone to say prayers even for bugs and such, but just then the wind begins to stir and Murphy's nose quivers as he sniffs the air and lifts his eyes heavenward as if he too with all the blind faith of his master can suddenly sense the multitude of wings waiting to receive us way off in the sky and truly we have to believe in something don't we dogs and men together for who is to say there's no hereafter or that our every move is not symbolic that even the frail spirits of birds don't rise up and sing not Murphy who stands bowlegged by accepting shovel and me and bird and breeze, and the contrails breaking up overhead like feathers left behind to mark the passing of the dead | ||
| michael julius sottak
Advanced Member Username: julius Post Number: 1590 Registered: 12-2003 |
i like this just fine, Native... good to read your work again, a priveledge...thanks | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 117 Registered: 12-2004 |
thanks michael. have you been away too? grateful for your response ... jim | ||
| michael julius sottak
Advanced Member Username: julius Post Number: 1593 Registered: 12-2003 |
Yes, Jim... been at sea... it's what I do... but not gone as long as you, amigo... I hope you are here to stay ("motherfucker!",,, now I feel better)... | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 118 Registered: 12-2004 |
yeah, i remember the seafaring life, but i had remembered your doing a lot of remodeling too for friends and relatives? from the looks of things on the weather channel you may be in for some more of that, eh? coragio, brother ... jim | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 5299 Registered: 11-1998 |
Welcome home, j. So good to have you and your work here again. And this piece -- so touching, so you. Your voice is unmistakable, j. When we get batches of poems at Stirring, I always know yours even with no name attached. Your wisdom shines through right here: "and lifts his eyes heavenward as if he too with all the blind faith of his master can suddenly sense the multitude of wings waiting to receive us way off in the sky and truly we have to believe in something don't we dogs and men together for who is to say there's no hereafter or that our every move is not symbolic that even the frail spirits of birds don't rise up and sing" I particularly liked the frail spirits of birds line. You made sigh heavily there. Just one small thing: "who stands bowlegged by" Can you flip "by" and "bowlegged"? "who stands by bowlegged" I don't know -- it just makes me feel better that way. *smile* | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 119 Registered: 12-2004 |
oh shoot, M, i was trying to be quaint and colloquial and veddy southern lol. oh well, sometimes i guess logic is better than what is that other thing iambic. thanks a heap. good to be back again. j | ||
| Dale McLain
Advanced Member Username: sparklingseas Post Number: 1364 Registered: 11-2004 |
Jim~ I thoroughly enjoyed this. For some reason the "little bird hole" did it for me... sweet. All good. take care~dale | ||
| Michael MV
Senior Member Username: michaelv Post Number: 975 Registered: 11-2003 |
Yes, good poetry/good read And with so many of them, "dog-poems" aren't easy to master  a Pick of the litter . . . I mean Week  imho MV | ||
| seaandbell
Advanced Member Username: seaandbell Post Number: 245 Registered: 11-2003 |
...i loved this, as I completely understood it and it spoke to me in an internal way, the vast mystery and beautiful sadness of the world, lovely and lovely ..... ~sea~ | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 120 Registered: 12-2004 |
dale and michael and sea ... when a poem can reach out to the reader with something akin to the joy it gave you in the writing, one is always grateful, and just humbled to be around when it happens. thanks, jim | ||
| LJ Cohen
Moderator Username: ljc Post Number: 2974 Registered: 07-2002 |
jim--this is a wonderful read. A 'stealth' poem--lulls you into thinking it's just going to be a rambling dog-tale. Then wham. Well done. best, ljc http://ljcbluemuse.blogspot.com/ | ||
| Gary Blankenship
Senior Member Username: garyb Post Number: 4950 Registered: 07-2001 |
Good dog, Murphy. Welcome back Jime, shall we rejoin our debate about form? grin Regardless, enjoyed. Smiles. Gary The new, August FireWeed is ready for you to read. Go in through http://www.mindfirerenew.com/ to get to the issue in a click or two. | ||
| michael julius sottak
Advanced Member Username: julius Post Number: 1600 Registered: 12-2003 |
hehehe... you sound like Hemingway, there...but your meaning struck home...glad to hear someone say they actually like writing, rather than feel the torture of it...(pure enjoyment here, but then again, I'm sure I've tortured some readers...) | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 122 Registered: 12-2004 |
wal, gary, not up to the debate just now, but if you have a good dog story, you might pass it along. you've had some damn good ones before. ah, lisa, if i couldn't walk you down the garden path now and again, where would be the fun in it lol. thanks so much ... you too, you mothah. and i've tortured a few myself. all best, to each of you ... jim | ||
| Emusing
Moderator Username: emusing Post Number: 1869 Registered: 08-2003 |
Congrats on HM jim. Your words reminded me of one of my favorite Rilke lines: Who knows, perhaps the flight of the bird you wound, remains E | ||
| native dancer
Advanced Member Username: nativedancer Post Number: 155 Registered: 12-2004 |
thanks, E. the rilke line is so fine; and once one has it in mind, it reverberates throughout the piece. jim |
