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Archive for January, 2018

One Just Before the Eclipse

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 31, 2018| 2 Comments »

 

 

staring at the moon

until it becomes a door

I walk through

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The Lesson

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 30, 2018| 6 Comments »

I asked the world

to teach me of truth

and waited and waited

for a lesson. Anything.

A bird. A rainbow.

A bug. A storm.

But nothing.

And so I went in

and made a cup

of coffee—ground

the beans and steamed

the milk and cradled

the cup in my hands.

And I tasted it.

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Modigliani Remembers Anna Akhmatova as He Sketches Her Naked, Again

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 28, 2018| 1 Comment »

 

 

 

She said my eyes had a golden gleam,

but it was her eyes, her eyes that redeemed

the world—the way she translated all she saw

into slender verse. I still hear her voice, soft as rain,

as she’d say, 0 Il faut, voyez-vous,

nous pardonner les choses—reciting Verlaine

as we sat beneath my old black umbrella

in the Jardin du Luxembourg. I knew,

even then, she would leave me. Knew

that although she threw red roses onto my floor

she would always return to Russia, her home.

Oh, but the tapered length of her. Like a candle,

a dancer, an Egyptian queen. How

her figure astonishes me. I draw her always

by memory. She, with the poise

of a Siamese cat. She with her stray dog soul.

When she left me, she took a single scroll

with her portrait sketched in pencil.

She tells me she’s taped it above her couch.

But she never returned. She never

returned. Now all my lines are ghosts.

 

To see some of Modigliani’s images of Anna Akhmatova, visit:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/earshot/amedeo-modiglianis-nude-drawings-of-anna-akhmatova/7389982

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One Inner Game

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

playing chess with myself—

always my two queens at odds,

with every move, I lose, I win

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Petunia No. 2

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 27, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

When Georgia painted the petunia,

she knew that to make busy people stop

in surprise and consider petunia,

 

she needed to make it large—

and she did—enormous petunias

revealed, unfolding along the wall—

 

and there the busy people saw

the intimate petals of women,

when all Georgia wanted to show them

 

was flower, the essence of flower,

the beauty of flower, the pure

purpled splendor of flower—

 

how soft, how sensual, how

wholly day stopping

a single flower can be.

 

 

to see the artwork, visit:

https://www.okeeffemuseum.org/store/products/posters/flowers/petunia-no-2-1924/

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Oenophilia

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 26, 2018| 8 Comments »

 

 

 

How the glass holds the wine

gives it shape, lets it breathe,

this is the way you hold me—

without you, I’m spill, I’m puddle,

I’m unfound, with you, I know myself

as something savored, relished,

held up to the light.

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One in the Eye of the Beholder

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 25, 2018| 8 Comments »

 

 

 

reading the book again—

the dogeared pages the same,

the story in them, wholly changed

 

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Not Your Everyday Joy Ride

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 24, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

No, this time Shame suggests

you take the driver’s seat,

and though you’re nervous at first,

it’s so fun—your hands

on the wheel, your foot

heavy with bliss—you split

the scene so fast

that Shame begs you to pull over,

leaps from the car, then tries

to hitch a ride home.

Meanwhile you speed

toward the sunrise as it

crooks its long pink fingers

at you, tugging on the hood,

making the whole world

blush. Yeah, you think,

it’s nice this way.

Out the window, the birds

are just beginning to sing.

 

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One in the Middle of the Ocean

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 22, 2018| 8 Comments »

 

 

 

wanting to be your lifeboat

when what you really need

is someone to let you swim

 

 

 

 

and if you live nearby, you may want to consider this public speaking class I will be teaching for the next six Thursdays through Ah Haa … http://www.ahhaa.org/calendarize/public-speaking-rosemerry-wahtola-trommer/

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Praise Song in January

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 21, 2018| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

Praise the tree as we throw

its branches into the fire,

the needles once green

now brilliant, now ash,

and praise the flames

that consume. Praise

the small hands that

toss the old boughs

and the squeals as the blaze

blazes higher. Praise

the empty space

in the room where all

we see is absence

of tree. Praise the darkness—

that canvas for light

that invites us

to find in ourselves

something to burn.

It’s a cold world.

What are we willing

to offer?

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