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Open Poetry #25
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Thank you, Lucie.... The Need
| Open Poetry #25 |
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Thank you, Lucie.... The Need |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart 
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Thank you, Lucie… "The Need" It wasn’t in me to stay cooped inside on a grand summer day, nope, there was too much to see, do, places to be, live, things to try, and learn. Mother’s thin motherly frame was colorless by a bout of polio from her youth, she would never flesh out to womanly comfort, but father loved her just the same, and agreed, everyone should have naps in the afternoon… but oh! To a young girl who’s best friend owns the horse down the sandy lane… who was invited to come, play… no! naps will not do! How best to sneak out of the house, escape creaking giveaways of floorboards here, and there, careful, don’t let screen door squeal on a wayward runaway who only wants afternoon discoveries to become hers… hurry, hurry to Kathy’s house, hurry, hurry… before Mom feels me gone… Freedom! No sister, no brother in tag-along what you gonna do, sissy, huh, where we going, huh? why doesn’t Mom know where we are…huh? In a skip and bounce that only young in years can emulate, in a stretch-of-leg-to-be-the-horse run to liberty… in take of air that fills one’s lungs to fly… stretch of arms, be all things at once… Pegasus becomes my name, sun-sign suddenly fits…wild and snorting laughter in independence… so liberating to be nine on a summer day! Mother will never know! There she is, Kathy is waiting, her horse at her side, oh this day has been long in planning, for she will let me! me! ride her beautiful mare… oh, bother. Instructions. Being older, wiser, more knowledgeable at 11, she is busy telling me all those things one needs to know before she will let me on her horse… impatience fills my ears, mental thoughts strung out in silent screech let me on, please! Manners were carved into my backbone, the tongue is held in silent beseech… “Kathy, phone!” her mother’s voice comes from their screen door, and I know, I know…this is not a good interruption… “don’t do anything until I get back!” the command is flung to the dirt below my feet, my toe digs into the brown earth, my head hanging… she disappears. However…there is a crate over in the corner, the horse is not that tall, perhaps if I put the crate here, by its side, step up, grab its mane, Kathy will never know…that I sat her horse for just a moment… who measures moments, anyhow? A mare knows when fear is present, when someone is where they aren’t supposed to be, and a horse knows exactly how to rid themselves of a sneak in the day… outside the corral, past the barbed wire, lay a lovely layer of gravel. Someone sent an angel to make sure I would just scrape the barbed wire with my back, that I would not break my neck when I oomphed to ground, gravel would just crunch under my lightweight, and Kathy, well, she hid quite nicely the exasperation behind her face when she reappeared and said… your mother wants you home, now! That long, dusty, dry summer sandy lane bore the heavy weight of bruised body and racing mind, how best to explain what had no explanation… no longer Pegasus...no longer free... a life seeming to have ended with a thud... to this day, some 40 years later, I recall both the flight, the oomph the return, the grief-stricken soul… and the look on my mother’s face. ~*~ Thanks to Lucie for bringing back a memory... [This message has been edited by Sunshine (03-08-2003 06:28 PM).] |
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| © Copyright 2003 Karilea Rilling Jungel - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Enchantress Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113Canada eh. |
Oh Karilea!! This triggered a memory..not unlike yours! I love this..and please please ask Nightshade to recall the day she ran down our dusty road to climb upon King's back. (She was only 4 or 5 years old!) Thank you thank you for this, and memories! ~Hugs~ ~ Trace my body with your words.. |
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littlewing Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655New York |
Sunshine - I just love that name - I loved this: so liberating to be nine on a summer day! Remember those days too well and wish them back sometimes - beautiful writing although sadness to it there a bit - also I adore horses - hope you got to ride many more times and still will xxoo |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
"In a skip and bounce that only young in years can emulate, in a stretch-of-leg-to-be-the-horse run to liberty… in take of air that fills one’s lungs to fly… stretch of arms, be all things at once… Pegasus becomes my name, sun-sign suddenly fits…wild and snorting laughter in independence…" YES! at anu age, a liberating feeling. Into my library. |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Karilea "who measures moments, anyhow?" Wow! I could feel this poem right down to my 9 year old flight wings. Only when I fell I landed in poison ivy. You wrote a recollection of something wonderful...I loved it!  |
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Nightshade
since 2001-08-31
Posts 13962just out of reach |
Karilea - thankyou for your words to-day, and all the other days. Seems we have all been here on this plain more than once. The memory of riding so proudly down our street on this swayback, yet once gallant steed, will never, ever leave me. Nor will the look upon my sweet mother's face! lol. hugs to you for all that you do. Chris  "Hope" is the thing with feathers- |
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Connel
since 2002-11-04
Posts 736Florida, USA |
Well, Thats bautiful... I enyoyed it greatly..  Anyone can write, But only poets can capture the heart. |
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garysgirl
since 2002-09-29
Posts 19237Florida, USA |
Karilea, this brought back memories to me, too. My cousins in the country had horses when I was growing up. In the summers when I would go to stay with them, we had a lot of experiences. It also reminded me when I was about 6 years old and packed a little bag, got on my bike, and rode around the corner to my Grandmother's house......I was running away from home. My Daddy taught me a lesson I never forgot, and I never ran away from home again.  Thanks for bringing back memories and for sharing your memories with us. Hugs, Ethel |
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Lucie Senior Member
since 1999-06-20
Posts 1077Houston |
What a marvelous memory.. and so glad to have helped spur it along so to speak..  Its wonderful to have the ability to close your eyes and bring back the smell of dirt and the feel of the sun on youthful skin. .. ahhh puts me in the mind of more memories.. it must be spring! Remember me with a smile on your face, or please don't remember me at all. |
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Janet Marie Member Laureate
since 2000-01-22
Posts 18554 |
stretch of arms, be all things at once… Pegasus becomes my name, sun-sign suddenly fits…wild and snorting laughter in independence… ================================== loving these images.... and just a Lucy trigger your memory...look at the chain reaction you have stirred here  and now you know... "moms know everything" |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
awww..you really know how to push the buttons...you have a beautiful way of telling tales..true and made up. I love this line besides many others: who measures moments, anyhow? mainly because I do measure moments...a very inspiring phrase hugss M |
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Duncan Member Ascendant
since 2001-08-07
Posts 5455 |
'In a skip and bounce that only young in years can emulate, in a stretch-of-leg-to-be-the-horse run to liberty… in take of air that fills one’s lungs to fly… stretch of arms, be all things at once… Pegasus becomes my name, sun-sign suddenly fits…wild and snorting laughter in independence… so liberating to be nine on a summer day!' I remember running and feeling like that, like I could almost fly... |
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