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Open Poetry #49
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OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

0 posted 2014-07-14 07:30 PM


THE KEY

I am glad that my my heart
is being hacked
into rough-edged scraps
and that those frazzled remnants are
being stretched
and squished
in a mangle

for
at last
I can turn
and struggle away
against a wild, wild gale
that encrusts each bleeding shape
with jagged ice-spikes
pressing into my gasping lungs
as I grapple for the freedom
and solitude
I so adore
and hate.

Owl

© Copyright 2014 Diana van den Berg - All Rights Reserved
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
1 posted 2014-07-14 07:41 PM


Diana….

"as I grapple for the freedom
and solitude
I so adore
and hate"

I understand what I quoted above…yes..but the rest scares me.  I hope you are ok.  

jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
2 posted 2014-07-14 09:04 PM


This was wonderful, my friend, another of "my favorites" of yours.

j.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
3 posted 2014-07-15 05:56 AM


Thank you, Martie.  Yes, I am OK, . . . or getting there.  I am almost always OK.  Like Diana Ross, I will survive (this)!  But thanks for your concern.  

Owl

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
4 posted 2014-07-15 05:58 AM


Thank you, Jimmy.  Yes, the key is to use pain of whatever kind, to climb back up on the back of, to a place of safety.  

Owl

secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant
since 2006-11-07
Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !
5 posted 2014-07-15 10:59 PM


fine ending in particular!

I can easily relate to the love/hate
relationship with 'freedom & solitude;'
however, I have also had a similar
ambivalence toward 'poetry' ... never
sure whether being 'compelled to write it'
is a blessing or a curse?!

Alison
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Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
6 posted 2014-07-15 11:06 PM


When I read your poetry, I am immersed in the emotion that wraps around your words.  Sometimes, I have nothing to say because I am still too busy feeling what you so beautifully express.

xoxo
A

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
7 posted 2014-07-16 04:38 AM


Thank you, Bruce.

Owl

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
8 posted 2014-07-16 04:41 AM


Thank you, Alison.  Yet that 'nothing' is everything because you have your own wonderful, inimitable way of saying it as only Alison can.

Hugs
Wol

JL
Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128
Texas, USA
9 posted 2014-07-25 10:23 AM


"as I grapple for the freedom
and solitude
I so adore
and hate."

You always dazzle and amaze with such deep perception and so few words.

Enjoyed, my friend.

JL

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Maranatha!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
10 posted 2014-07-25 10:45 AM


Thank you for your kind words, JL.  Just what I needed, lol.  

Owl

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis
since 2007-09-16
Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California
11 posted 2014-07-25 02:52 PM


Amazing poem,Diana. Hope things get better soon.
                              Love, Ida.

Redstart
Senior Member
since 2014-05-16
Posts 535

12 posted 2014-07-26 12:39 PM


Deep and engulfing to the reader. I know that poetic form has a name, but I'm not going to google it. It was just perfect without such crass interference.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
13 posted 2014-07-26 01:50 AM


Thank you, Ida.  So do I.

Love
Owl

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
14 posted 2014-07-26 01:55 AM


Thank you, Redstart.  I used to teach English which included poetic forms, but I toss my nose at all of that now, and in any case, I have always written as it pours out of me, with no conscious regard for form or technicalities (though I know they help in the background).  I have no idea what form this would be, and like you, I really don't give two hoots.  Thank you for understanding so well.  Smiles.

Owl

suthern
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Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
15 posted 2014-08-13 04:09 PM


Like others before me, I'm particularly drawn to the last 4 lines - I think we've all experienced such a dichotomy... you just expressed it brilliantly!
OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
16 posted 2014-08-13 04:25 PM


Thank you, Ruth, for your kind words.  Yes, a dilemma of sorts.  

Owl

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
17 posted 2014-08-15 10:29 PM


The ying and yang of life
is well expressed in this,
Diana. Good to read you...
and as for keys...
I've written of a few of them
myself.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
18 posted 2014-08-16 02:41 AM


Thank you, Karilea.

Owl

The Lady
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-12-26
Posts 7634
The Southwest
19 posted 2014-09-12 09:04 PM




Diana,

This poem speaks to me. It says, "You understand, don't you?"
And I answer, "I understand every word."

Beautifully done, my friend.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
20 posted 2014-09-13 04:27 PM


Thank you, Kate.

Owl

Gale
Senior Member
since 2013-06-10
Posts 578
Russia
21 posted 2014-09-29 03:23 PM


Diana, I told you that I love this poem
Stunning!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
22 posted 2014-09-29 03:30 PM


Thank you, Galina, for your kind words.

Owl

Damien Page
Junior Member
since 2014-03-30
Posts 22

23 posted 2014-10-01 11:16 AM


I felt this.

You do a very impressive job of expressing very vast and enormous amounts of pain in a few words.

Thank you for sharing this.

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
24 posted 2014-10-01 11:34 AM


Thank you, Damien, for, as always, your beautiful and compassionate response.

Owl

luminosity
Senior Member
since 2005-11-18
Posts 813

25 posted 2014-10-07 12:20 PM


yes...as someone above said...your work is always painted with emotion...though as void as I feel of late, its a wonder I even recognize it
great write!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis
since 2005-11-07
Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa
26 posted 2014-10-07 12:28 PM


Thank you, Luminosity.  I am sorry you are void of emotion - and I wish I was.

Owl

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