We who with songs beguile your pilgrimage / And swear that Beauty lives though lilies die, / We Poets of the proud old lineage / Who sing to find your hearts, we know not why ... (James Elroy Flecker)

25.7.25

Anniversary Reaction

 

At first I don’t quite notice. Then

I start to feel the shift

begin,

a difference in attention:

a subtle, quiet rift

within.


Something is coming closer. My bones,

my blood become aware …

my breath …

Ah! The slow realisations

coalesce, fill the air:

that death.




Written for dVerse Meeting the Bar: RememberThis! 


Form: Memento, created by Emily Romano


16 comments:

  1. Your anniversary reaction resonates with me, Rosemary, especially:
    ‘a difference in attention:
    a subtle, quiet rift
    within.’

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    1. After reading yours, I felt sure you would relate to this!

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  2. A really fine memorial hearse, describing the present ride around that event. (JPP-tagged poems are all woven so)

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    1. Yes, an important death in my life. Thank you for noticing, and for the kind words.

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  3. There are some anniversaries that creep up on us even though we don't put them on our calendars - nicely told Rosemary...

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    1. Thank you. Yes – some dates which it's not necessary to record.

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  4. Rosemary, I read this aloud multiple times and see the way the form is supposed to be written. It flows so well. I love the sensing of the shift and feeling it in your bones and other places.

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    1. Thank you for such a conscious reading! I'm complimented – and also I think it's very clever of you, and the mark of a dedicated poet, to read it aloud to apprehend the form.

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  5. Excellent use of the form. 'That death' really hits at the end.

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    1. Thank you. The form was useful in getting that 'hit' to happen!

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  6. Oh that ending was unexpected... I read it several times...the level of detail in such a brief poem is fantastic!

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  7. Dear Rosemary, I also feel the emotions you expressed so beautifully in this poem. Onward, upward ... a daily mantra as I roll out of bed each morning. Aches and all ... lol.

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    1. Oh yes. Indeed. Some events are more than mental remembrances. The other parts of us remember for us and somehow inform the other parts. Indeed. Lovely. Thanks. Xo, Selma Martin.

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