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)

7.4.26

My Bones


The bones of my body

are reinforced now

with calcium injections –

effective. Despite the falls (I 

am old) my bones don’t break.


The bones of my long life, 

however – the scaffolding, 

the structure, holding me, 

enabling me – are words, 

poems. Without them, how lost …



Written for Quadrille $245: Writing Down the Bones  (a title inspired by my all-time favourite book for writers, of the same title, by Natalie Goldberg).


I have been a little unwell recently – nothing to worry about, but it has turned off my poetic inspiration for a few days, and I have indeed felt at a loss. Thank heavens (and dVerse, and in this instance De Jackson aka WhimsyGizmo) for the Quadrille form, to which I can seldom fail to respond. It is 44 words exactly, excluding title, and must include a particular word, this time 'bones'.




22 comments:

  1. love the two kinds of bones, especially the poembones

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  2. Words are so important to hold us up - inside - hoping you will always build with them - and not have too many falls in the future - Jae

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    1. Thanks, Jae. I haven't had many falls really, and now that I have a wheely walker to get around with I am unlikely to have any more.

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  3. Glad to hear the calcium injections work and how poetry gives form to your life :)

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  4. Rosemary, first time of hearing about calcium injections. Sounds painful but also effective, which is what counts. Poem bones keep me rattling along also.

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    1. No, not at all painful. One into the tummy every six months.

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  5. so true so true... content you found your way today

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  6. Words as scaffolding holding us up -- I like that.

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  7. Rosemary - your words are indeed the skeleton a poet

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  8. Love this, Rosemary. So sorry you've been feeling under the weather. Sending hugs, and kudos for a wonderful piece. LOVE "scaffolding." What a visual!

    De

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    1. Thanks for the hugs and also the kudos – and above all for triggering some writing.

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  9. I like your idea of poembones. How creative and important.

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  10. That scaffolding is the main thing, isn't it... I'm feeling this poem...ribs and joints and all!!

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