Inside The Hearts' Walls

The waters came
and they kept coming
covering the landscape
the farms
the houses
the cars
the people.
And the world wept.

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This was by Ruth and was also the poem sent to the Commuter this week.

Have a happy Final's Week everybody! The Poetry Club will be taking two weeks off, meeting next on Tuesday, March 29, in the first week of spring term. The prompt for writing for that meeting is no prompt at all, just write on whatever topic strikes your fancy.

In other news, the Choir Concert was last night (pics here), and four of our poets read their works to the sold out auditorium (500 or so people; the fire-mashal's certificate by the door certified a capacity of 524, but I spotted a couple rows of mostly empty seats over in the crappy corner where the piano would have blocked people's view of half the stage). The so honored poets were John, Teagan, Whitney, and Tav (in that order (chronologically, not in that order in the picture below)).

You lived so much of your life without telling anyone,
until one day when you couldn’t keep it in any longer,
and then your world turned upside down.
Oh well. Right side up is highly over-rated.

By rk

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Another poem on the "We live so much of our lives without telling anyone" prompt.  This one was also the club's submission to the Commuter this week.

Of Sky and Sea


I could lay no longer in my temporary home of canvas,
Straining
To hear the chorus of
Songbirds
Under the squawk of the giant crow
Standing guard over our campsite.

I felt in the morning darkness for my sneakers and
Sweatshirt,
And I made my escape,
Finding
It miraculous that the others weren’t awakened
By the noisy zippered door.

I followed the path to the beach, my steps quick and
Eager
To greet the horizon at dawn,
Eager
To leave a fresh set of footprints
Upon the virgin sand.

I climbed the rocks to gaze into pools that just last
Night
Were covered by salty surf,
Pondering
Ebb and flow more than the creatures it left behind.

Something called me on to higher ground, where the incoming
Tide
Pounded the rock beneath me,
Sending
Its spray up to touch my face.

I stood alone, yet far from loneliness, with
Sky
And sea and thought so
Vast
They overwhelmed me. I belonged there,
In that moment.

I carry that place with me, visiting it often in my
Mind.
When the world crowds in and suddenly seems too
Small,
I remember sea and sky, and endless thought.

Where I am alone and not afraid.
Where I stand tall in the face of vastness,
And I am happy.

-rk

Childhood Revisited


Somewhere in the quiet places,
Silenced by the years,
She lives. I am thinking of her.

She stares at me with longing, dare I look?
Hair, thin and brown, blowing about,
Eyes begging that I remember.

And I am happy to see her. Or wait, shall
I say that I am sad?
I swallow hard, breath deep and close my eyes.

Trembling, I reach across time to find myself.
Our tears and dreams entangle, and we, alas, are one,
as we should be. For I cannot live without her,

And this is what it is like. Or what it is like in words.

rk