Thursday, May 18, 2023

Finding Comfort


Finding Comfort

Iron bunnies arc over wildflowers scattered randomly a few months back by Mother's hand full of seeds, letting her chickens decide what was picked and pecked, what survived, thrived.  Flowering bushes and potted plants nestle amongst garden ornaments she loved: a windmill, water-spouting frogs, a birdbath, rocks from her travels out West, as well as winding rows full of vegetables.  She liked to weed and mulch, but didn't over-trim or shape her garden; she liked the natural look, a place where chipmunk holes were welcome, where birds and butterflies found safe haven.  

From a collection of hats, I select a blue-brimmed floppy from a peg, numerous garden implements neatly lined in a row below, idyl.  I slip my hands into a pair of her gloves, put one to my cheek, comforted.   I gather a few mementos, look forward to dirty fingernails, tired knees, and a sun-flushed farmer's-tan, Mother's iron bunnies cavorting above me.


This is linked with "Girlie on the Edge - Six Sentence Stories" - "Flush" is the word of the week.  I suppose this is more of a reflection than a story - I'm used to writing poetry so this is kind of a mash-up of a story and a poem, maybe.  But I'll post it and try and write a true story next time.

Artwork by Margaret Bednar

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Spring's Promise


 

Spring's Promise

Stillness -
Not even a dragonfly
skims pond's surface,
Monet's paintbrush poised;
birth and resurrection's impressions
thirst for season's kiss.

    I thought to hang my hopes
    upon a crescent hook last night,
    but moon and stars
    fell before my feet,
    scattered, buoyant
    upon Claude's violet-blue depths.

    Reached instead
    within myself
    since made of stars are we.
    Fingertips tingled,
    started to mold
    and fashion dreams;
    mind raced upon cool breeze.

Funny how daylight's 
drowsy ardor
differs from night's
invigorating arousal.
Sit dockside,
stir concentric circles
slowly with my toe,
stillness and urgency suspended.

One little lotus bud
sprouts,
its minty elfin cap,
a promise.

By Margaret Bednar, May 12, 2023


Lily pads represent birth, resurrection, purity, majesty, enlightenment


Saturday, May 6, 2023

With Emily

 


With Emily

The pages
Rustle, curl, flip
Palm of my hand
Settles them
Absorbs
-----

I'm sitting beside her
Scraps of envelopes
Chocolate wrappers
Nestle within
The white folds of her dress
Auburn head
Bent upon slender neck
No flirtatious ringlets -

You resemble
Your beloved Indian Pipes

She laughs softly
Glances up
At her bedroom window
Her hand
Smooths Carlo's fur
Repositions herself
Within White Oak's shadow
Brown eyes that see
Far beyond this yard
Glance my way -

We are protected
She says

From what
I want to ask
But remain silent
As I watch her nourish
Repurposed scraps
Sentence snippets
Fragmented together
With dashes and slashes
Words looped and dotted
Her pencil pauses
Midair -

Listen
With loneliness
With fullness
With loss
With Wonder
She whispers
Pull life up
By it's roots

Her pen descends
I watch 
Transfixed
Seeds race across
In slanted rows
In curved
Planted
Blooming
Someday edited
Some roots snipped
By friends -

You will be famous
One day

She looks incredulous
Almost scared
Picks up her papers 
Pencil tucked in her hair
Walks toward warm bricks
So solid, safe
Pauses
Smiles
As birds serenade -

Birds sing
For independent ecstasy
She sighs
Not for applause
Nor recognition
As do I.

She slips away
Invisible
For now
_____

Wind rustles my hair
The pages
Whip across my knuckles
This afternoon with Emily
Enchanting as usual

By Margaret Bednar, May 5, 2023

Indian Pipe is a white flower that has a bent flower head.  It was a favorite of Emily’s. Carlo was her beloved big, black dog.  She supposedly became more of a recluse as she aged - spent hours in her room. 


This is linked with "Poets and Storytellers United - Friday Writings #75" 


http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/. This blogger is doing “The Dickinson Blog Project” reading and commenting all 1789 poems 


http://bloggingdickinson.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-birds-begun-at-four-oclock.html  (where I got the reference)


https://www.amazon.com/Gorgeous-Nothings-Emily-Dickinsons-Envelope/dp/081122175X

Book - The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems


https://www.vulture.com/2019/04/behind-the-new-gloriously-queer-emily-dickinson-movie.html. VERY interesting article - I was intrigued how science detected the erased parts of Emily’s letters to Susan.  “… But in the process of attempting to read copies of every letter Emily had written, Smith got distracted. “I start coming across things like seven lines erased, half of the page cut out, words erased,” she tells me. “And I’m like, What in the world is this? And so I asked to go see the manuscripts at Amherst College — that’s where most of the mutilated manuscripts are.” Once there, new spectrographic technology made it possible for Smith to recapture what had been censored on the pages and to quickly realize that the lines being erased were “these affectionate expressions about her sister-in-law, Susan.”


Two movies wildly different from each other;  A Quiet Passion and Wild Nights with Emily


Mutilations http://archive.emilydickinson.org/mutilation/mintro.html



Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Like Dickinson


Doodling on a paper bag

Like Dickinson

Torn envelopes, 
chocolate wrappers, paper scraps;

Emily's words and sentence snippets
fragmented together -

wonders for stationary
which hibernated in her desk drawer, 
waited for slanted ink 
to nourish, to burnish its smooth surface -

similar to my stash of watercolor paper
upon a shelf, cold and hard pressed,
imitating collectible artifacts on display -

recycled, brown grocery bags,
newsprint; inspired torn envelopes
receiving favor of my mark, 
color and pattern explored. 

Why do I balk before a blank canvas?  
Did she fear the perfection of a pristine page?

by Margaret Bednar, May 3, 2023

A poem I am not happy with.   It really is more of a collection of ideas and a rough first draft and I have a whole other approach in mind... stay tuned.