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Tuesday, December 28, 2010

TEXTURE AND IMAGE


rough hewn
gnawn from roots

or tree carved
affixed at right angles

stood aright
where roads intersect

at the centers of towns
above places of prayer

making maps of sky
pointing through woods to

coasts piled with sand
shells and rocks

worn round the necks of
virgins and lumberjacks

as tokens, as troths of faith
chiseled from hard quarried beliefs

lashed to the souls of believers
their inner voices shaped

by seers and dowsers
treading tortuous furrows

digging planting kneading
to evince from earth

something more clear than
the melted snow streams

flowing down exalted mountains
where finite life waits

on this tiny satellite
of a small burning white star

at the edge of an unnoticed galaxy
on the left side of the great god's

galloping universe where he sent
some attachment of himself once

who couldn't avoid the pitfalls
of men's foibles though he left

tablets of his love on every surface
he himself expired on that cross
of cultures he was sent to bridge


(c) Gay Reiser Cannon * All Rights Reserved

26 comments:

  1. Artistry with words. I see the textures and cultures and then a man with a mission
    Masterfully conveyed

    So glad you are on the team - yeah
    MOONIE hugs

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  2. Oh me too, dear Leslie, everyone has been so welcoming. I feel as though I've known you guys for years. It's amazing, isn't it?

    Oh thanks for coming by and reading. This was a hard earned one.

    I am driving tomorrow. It did rain today. Hoping for clear skies on the road south. Talk to you when I arrive tomorrow night.

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  3. Beautifully disciplined stream of consciousness with many allusions to other texts. I especially loved this image: "chiseled from hard quarried beliefs
    lashed to the souls of believers".

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  4. Wow! Your well-chosen lines read like a stream-of-conscious piece traversing earth and beyond through literal and figurative leaps of faith. Very powerful descriptions and symbolic connections.

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  5. two favorite line...virgins and lumberjacks...and your close...cross of sulture he was sent to bridge...very nice...

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  6. Thank you all. The end was difficult to write; thanks for the input. Many words were considered for it.

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  7. I owe a debt of gratitude to Joy Jones for keeping me on track with this one. She kindly looked at not one, but three drafts of it. She's a generous and genius person.

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  8. Wow this is art, words like paint.

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  9. Hello! I was here, asking for friendship. ;) Would you like to follow each others blogs? Advance Happy New Year. :D

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  10. I think you just sumamrized the Bible in one poem. Great one, Gay.

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  11. Wow..Glynn, that's a massive statement. I'm stunned beyond words.

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  12. See it came out just fine. You really got the flow disciplined and the words did the rest of the work. Splendid writing, Gay, a pleasure to read from first to last.

    Have a safe trip, a wonderful time, and a very Happy New Year. Thanks for everything.

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  13. wow - you made this come alive with your writing gay...esp. liked the small burning white star
    at the edge of an unnoticed galaxy
    at the left side of the great god's...

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  14. Another beautiful poem. I like the visual shift in perspective from digging in the earth, to the mountains, to the sky, the galaxy, the universe. It is a wonderful flight. Then we return to the most amazing intersection of God with our world--the cross. A beautiful poem of worship! Thank you for sharing.

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  15. gorgeous from the image (visual poetry) to the words you have hewn, and piled up into a sacred shrine.

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  16. Masterpiece Bea..!!!
    every line is pure beauty..hats off! :)

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  17. Quite a trek to an amazing message.

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  18. I really enjoyed this beautiful piece. ♥

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  19. And I hear distant chanting
    this is so vivid

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  20. Very quietly spirtual, Gay, in the true sense of the word. Really nice.

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  21. shells and rocks
    worn round the necks of
    virgins and lumberjacks
    as tokens, as troths of faith
    chiseled from hard quarried beliefs

    So deep, this one. Beautifully sculpted and worthy to be revered. Nicely done.

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  22. Fantastic!
    "worn round the necks of
    virgins and lumberjacks
    as tokens, as troths of faith
    chiseled from hard quarried beliefs
    lashed to the souls of believers"

    I wish you Love, Health and Happiness for the New Year!

    Gio

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  23. Lovely write for the season and the Son...love the last few lines...a bridge that needs constant reinforcements.....have a great New Year...looking forward to a year of great poetry...bkm

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  24. Gah, I've been wanting to get over here and read your One Shot for four days now, but I finally made it. :-)

    "shells and rocks
    worn round the necks of
    virgins and lumberjacks"

    I love that line. LOVE that line!

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  25. "worn round the necks of
    virgins and lumberjacks"
    Splendidly imaginative. The effort here is plain to see and I thank you! Truly a treasure.

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