Monday, April 13, 2020

Howling through Streets and Woods

The wind was in a ripping mood, howling
through streets and woods, making corpses
of bleeding hearts and the strongest
of dandelions. Still,

there is comfort to be found
in bones that tell magic tales,
in flesh that dares to discover
nature’s poetry in every breath,
in every voice that speaks of how

all things that live never die—
they grow differently, being
rediscovered
(and beloved)
in inked memory.

the first photo was taken right before a spectacular windstorm that left the bleeding hearts plant practically naked of blooms. The second is one of the fallen (there were many) drying on my board (the others now live within the pages of books).

things have been relatively mad around these parts, and I’m a tad behind. I still didn’t want to miss Sanaa’s Weekly Scribblings #14: Let’s use Pathetic Fallacy, shall we? (write using the literary device “Pathetic Fallacy”). So, I combined Sanaa’s prompt and the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads’ prompt for April 13th: 13 is Poetry (choose 3 to 13 (nonconsecutive) words from the quote below, and use them in a poem that is a deliberate celebration of metaphor), and birthed the poem above.

“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in the ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.” Diane Setterfield 

25 comments:

  1. This is most beautifully done, Magaly. An ode to Spring and life, and acknowledgement of the part death plays in all our lives.

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  2. I love that you’ve combined pathetic fallacy with metaphor, Magaly, they go together well, especially the repetition of ‘howling through streets and woods’ and the wind’s ‘ripping mood’. I also love ‘bones that tell magic tales’ and ‘flesh that dares to discover / nature’s poetry in every breath’.

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  3. "all things that live never die— they grow differently," yes!😃 This poem is alive with strength and hope, Magaly! Thank you so much for merging with mine. I absolutely love it!!💝

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  4. You made the words your own, and present a powerful case for what you say.

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  5. I love how you’ve put together your chosen words. I especially like “ all things that live never die—
    they grow differently,“ Uplifting thoughts for our day👏❣️🙏

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  6. Life blooms and must face the wind...Beautiful writing

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  7. Yes those words are the ones that stand against the storm... love it.

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  8. It really is time for me to re-read that book. I stumbled across it accidentally ages ago, before I knew you liked it too.

    Sometimes we need to get purposefully quiet so we can hear the bones' tales. I find they don't often shout. They prefer you to get up quite close and still so the words can be sure to flow over as intended.

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    1. It is always time to reread that book *hehehe*

      And there is so much truth in your closing words.

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  9. Magaly, I like the idea of never dying, but returning into some other type living being. I have always said I would like to be a woman in my next life.
    Your "Pathetic Fallacy" is good too. It seemed that writing it would be hared using all those Wordlist words. I too wrote a "Pathetic Fallacy", combining it with the NaPoWriMo 'shape poem' prompt. Here,
    http://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/2020/04/day-8-of-naplpowrimo-2020-poem-to.html .
    Stay Safe,
    ..

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  10. A masterful combination of prompts!

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  11. I love your "I DO WEIRD" art. 🖤 🖤 🖤

    P.S. I just finished Setterfield's Bellman & Black for the second time. I think I might start it over again since the library is closed, there's no late fees and I've now run out of books. I need a larger pension cheque to keep me supplied in new reading material, fabric and wool these days! lol

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    1. Thank you!

      I might have to reread it again, too, just to copycat you (and because I sooo love that book).

      Oh, that is nice about no late fees. I wonder if my public library is doing the same. I've only checked out electronic material since the madness started.

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