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Open Poetry #9
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The Deer Hunter's Elegy
| Open Poetry #9 |
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The Deer Hunter's Elegy |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada 
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After a rain, after a branch soaked journey, I sit near a clear cut watching silt filled water lazily run off the open yard. I stare at the torn floor, my thinking fractured by the damage and I imagine a small deer watching from the trees in the distance, a lonely spikhorn safely from me. The ground is overchurned brown mixed with green, trampled remains: beyond all repair. Wind scrapes the earth with a shrill voice, tempest over the desolate barren waste, and I pull out my clip held bullets. Inside, my heart stopped the hunt. I think trying to get it straight; that once there was shelter here to house and feed kindred souls, gypsy hearts, while heaven's cool rains would fully quench all yearning thirsts and tenants felt the moisture washing their blood. It's because of this that I sit here in this torture with my thoughts clinging to life - and feel disconsolate. The commercialized death of this once existing growth polinates the dark and looming doom that breeds from this pervading to destruction. In my head, I see a hidden ghost of sheer complacency while bold capitalism with wheels and knives drives onward through forests with persistence, processing mechanical politics. But I sit here left alive, no escape from the eyesore. I try to imagine their fear of the roar and fumes their kindred so dispersed, running away from ravished homelands as their space shrinks, and their home, is lost. But the truth remains unchanged. The truth hides only as long as it takes to hurt and the deer runs only as long as the forest still stands until his churning stomach with craving hunger drive him out into a final solution behind fences so ghastly unreal. Nowhere left to run; species forced from their shelter - and with this vision across this bare moonscape and with this wind-swept air lashing emptiness before me, the truth starts to hurt. |
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| © Copyright 2000 Eric Lewis True - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Paula Finn Member Ascendant
since 2000-06-17
Posts 5546missouri |
Talk about me writing about touchy subjects...strip clearing is a disgrace and so unneccessary...to defile the land like that taking away shelter and natural resources when there are so many other choices for building materials than just wood. When are WE ever gonna learn? Great work here ethome.< !signature--> never say never [This message has been edited by Paula Finn (edited 07-30-2000).] |
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Toddles Member
since 2000-07-24
Posts 396New Orleans, Louisiana |
I am taken with your molding of language and image in this well-crafted poem! |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Yes Paula it is a problem and the truth is being hidden from the commoner because of big business and politics....thanks for your comments. |
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Butterflies_dont_cry Member Elite
since 2000-03-06
Posts 3733Michigan |
ETHome* Great writing....describes much of the land around me these days......very sad to see happen~ |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thanks Todd I appreciate your comments |
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Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
Engrossing! ethome, this is a remarkable piece of poetry and on a very touchy subject indeed... and the truth does hurt sometimes... well done... regards, sudhir |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thanks Butterflies I hope you find some way to have it stopped before you lose it all. |
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Kit McCallum
Administrator
Member Laureate
since 2000-04-30
Posts 14774Ontario, Canada |
Oh Ethome ... this was just too well written, you've made me cry! This subject is so close to my heart, it just breaks in two. A difficult subject, but one that needs attention ... so perhaps I should say a simple "thank you for the cry". Incredible writing my friend. Best wishes, /Kit |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you Sudhir for the wonderful word, "engrossing." take care. I did'nt mean to make you cry Kit.. but if you're going to cry I'm glad it's over this subject..thank you so much for your kind words. |
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Seymour Tabin Member Empyrean
since 1999-07-07
Posts 31720Tamarac Fla |
Ethome, Something that had to be said and you said it well. |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you Seymour for stopping in for the read. |
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Marina Member Elite
since 2000-02-10
Posts 2245Pickering, Ontario |
Very well written. You have a talented pen. Marina It is a blessing to have wings for words, and passion in pen Marina Crossley |
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Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA |
I've never considered myself easily impressed but I certainly am here. This is really a brilliant poem, much deeper and richer that it appears on the surface. Hats off to you, good poet. Of course, being a 'deer, does not influence me at all  |
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Bill Charles Member Patricius
since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619highways, & byways, for now |
ethome, This is a great piece of writing. It must have taken a while to put together, as I can see the many thoughts so well lined after one another. Very nice ethome. |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thanks for the comment Marina I appreciate. Thank you for the deer compliment BallaDEER, it means so much to me. |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you Bill for your comments. Yes it took awhile to put together, not too long though... Thanks again. |
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Jenn E Senior Member
since 2000-08-02
Posts 589Kelowna, BC, Canada |
WOW! This is truly amazing. Makes one stop and think about this world we live in and what and how we treat it. Thank You for this. Jenn E |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you so much Jenn E ... It's so true we have a lot to answer for in this old world. |
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Sudhir Iyer Member Ascendant
since 2000-04-26
Posts 6943Mumbai, India : now in Belgium |
So glad this came back up... really enjoyed (poetically) the second major read... I still stick to the word "engrossing"... regards, sudhir |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thanks for the second reply Sudhir I'm glad engrossing is still there with you. Thanks again. |
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Mark Bohannan Member Rara Avis
since 2000-06-21
Posts 7269In the winds of Cherokee song |
This is a very wonderful write about something that urkss me to no end. I majored in forestry in college and enviromental studies and what we do to make us so comfortable is only taking away from future generations the beauty that is(was) ours. This one is going in my file for sure and it is already printed out and gonna go on my wall. Your imagery is superb and the format is as well, but for me the message is one that I will cling to forever. Thank you so much for sharing this in your awesome talent. |
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Parker Member Elite
since 2000-01-06
Posts 3129ON |
ethome, this was a truely exceptional piece of work. Greed seems to be our only motivator, we will not correct this problem until it starts to kill us off in hugh numbers. I think it very dispicable that these companies that clear cut in Canada, always leave just enough trees so we can't see the clear cutting area. Otherwise we would be horrified at the site. They've got all the angles figured out. Who says you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Parker |
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Wilfred Yeats Member Elite
since 2000-08-04
Posts 2704Wilmington, Delaware |
I share your distaste - and love your poem despite the fact I'm not a hunter. - I was no marksman in the service - perhaps that's why. ~S~ - Were I "god of politics" I'd constrain the size of corporations in some way more in the environment's and the people's interest |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you Mark. I'm so glad you saw it the same way and your experience tells you that this is no joke, this is serious beyond what people realize.. Even when the big companies use a reforestation program the species driven from that area of forest never completely return...tell me where do they go?? thanks again....ethome. I know what you mean Parker....in the prov of N.B. the Irvings control things and the whole business is full of deceit and false statements..it is truly sad. They tell the big companies here that they can't harvest any forest within 200 yards of a water system, brook, river, lake, ocean... well tell me! what good 200 yards of forest is going to do when you cut down thousands of acres behind it.....more deceit, lies and as you say greed....sad very sad!! Thanks again for your reply. Thanks WY....you don't have to be a marksman to realize what these companies are doing to our enviroment, wiping it out in mass, with no thought given to the future. Mark my words ....this is a crises situation already because too much damage has been done!! |
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LngJhnAg Member Elite
since 1999-07-23
Posts 3508Boot+Kitty=Poetry in motion |
et - It isn't just the logging companies who are ravishing our land. There's the ranchers, who, to protect their livestock, decimated the predators and thereby caused the overpopulation of deer; there's the developers, who strip every level and semi-level plot of land to build another "dream home"; and there's us - who demand that somebody else not take what we rationalize we are entitled to enjoy. No single drop of rain blames itself for the flood - A. France(?). Your poem addresses this subject nicely. |
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Kit McCallum
Administrator
Member Laureate
since 2000-04-30
Posts 14774Ontario, Canada |
From your heart to mine ... and back again Ethome. I'm often achingly absorbed in thought of this turmoil ... you've penned this beautifully, and with wisdom. I'm so sorry I missed this first time around! Best wishes, /Kit |
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ethome Member Patricius
since 2000-05-14
Posts 11858New Brunswick Canada |
Thank you for your comments John. I think it's John isn't it? You make some very good points. We don't have any ranchers on a large scale here but we sure do have the same developers. Looking at the wide picture though, it's the huge logging companies that are raping the face of the earth. Look at South America where the emerald belt runs across that continent..very sad...they remove an acre of the rain forest and thousands of species(especially insects that are vital to growth) die never to be recovered. The Govt. of Brazil rationalized that they could turn the harvested areas into profitable farm land. However, after two years of farming all the nutrients are gone out of the soil and the land is useless. The topsoil under the rain forest is not very deep and soon washes into the watersheds only to cause more trouble. Ironically our entire free enterprise system is built on growth.....people get married and have babies, the population grows and they need more schools, housing and education. I also know that there are generations of families that have worked in the logging industry and they get quite upset when you criticize their means of making a living. My opinion is this...the government needs to take time to assess the whole situation from a more humanitarian point of view. In this area, the govt. is in bed with big business and the two are inseparable because they are financially joined at the hip. I remain unrespectfully frustrated. That is about one of the best lines I have ever heard, "no single drop of rain blames itself for a flood." so true! In the generations to come the enviroment is going to become the biggest issue on the face of the earth....if mankind wants to survive. Sorry to go on so. take care...... ethome Thanks so much Kit for your response I know this issue affects so many of us. The singer composer John Denver who was so tragically killed in his own small aircraft, was a big proponent of controlling this devestation. I miss him even more for that reason..... Thanks again. |
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