Poems demand to be written on their own time.
That’s one thing I’ve learned from the last few installments of the 100 Themes challenge — you sit down and turn on the writing faucet like a good, dedicated poet, but for all that, the poem comes when it darn well pleases.
If you’re present and ready for it, that is.
A priest and fellow artist told me once that we need to keep two simultaneous attitudes toward our work: one of dedication and one of abandonment.
Of course we must show up regularly and be dedicated to our artistic gifts — that’s where the dedication comes in. However, at the same time, we must always remember where the gift comes from and that it’s not under our control. Even those who don’t believe in Providence must abandon themselves to it, when they’ve set themselves to do something creative.
And that’s my excuse for why I’m so late with my seventh 100 Themes poem, whose theme — another abstract one — was
HEAVEN
It took a month to incubate. My head kept snagging on the same image, and I couldn’t think of a compelling or truthful way to present it. Everything that came out of my pen was utter nonsense.
It turns out it was just waiting for yesterday, when a few serendipitous events and an online article about Mozart inspired the final ingredients.
A month in the making, but finished in a single evening.
On Metros, Eternity and Mozart
To write about Heaven I had to loop
a Mozart lullaby,
two and a half minutes to lull myself out
of a dry-eyed world of dustworn shoes
and double split shifts, urban exhaust
and late-night sinus drainage,
missed metros and slow-walking couples
taking up the sidewalk with their happiness.
Lifted on waltzing strings,
I hoped to forget (or truly,
remember)
how I saw you in sunbeams and pine,
dipping your hand in a snow-glutted stream
in a spring beyond farewells.
Your eyes spoke of Sunday forever,
of time loose and light
and silence resounding with the Beauty
that struck Salieri between the lines.
That day there will be no lines
of ink (but pure note),
nor lines of the metro
taking me this way, and you that.
(Imagine: time distilled
to a moment, taking up eternity
with its oneness.)
Until then you loop from heart
to head, always two and a half minutes
between your platform and mine.
If you have any poems to share about either Mozart, metros, or eternity, let me know in the comments!
Now how will you practice abandonment and dedication this week?
I love to glimpse Heaven, in the gaps in between, this world and the next. Your poem speaks to me, and whispers to my soul, those things long forgotten. That are caught in a sunbeam, or in a wisp of music. Beautiful Randi! Thank you for sharing!
<3 The greatest joy for a poet is when her poem resonates with another. Thank you for your lovely comment.
“To write about Heaven I had to download
Mozart’s lullaby and loop it,”
I was hooked on the first line, Randi. What a thought-provoking poem! The imagery, asides, and rhythm are so well written. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it! (I’m partial to the first line, myself; only because it was absolutely true to life. 😉 )
Visually stunning – thanks for taking the time to make it so poignant.
Thanks for taking the time to come and read it!