Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Rosary

I have a rosary made of birds.
I have an ache made of your absence.

When I am praying, the birds stay with me. Stars replace them.
This is my arrangement with the sky at sunset.

Sometimes passing trucks sing the street; other times footsteps.
Sometimes God laughs; other times She is silent.

Holding birds in one's hands is holy.
My hands know your name, and the braille of my body in its longing.

I always say the same prayer, to be nearer to you.
I have a rosary made of birds.
_______
 

14 comments:

  1. A sigh of a poem, drifting like a leaf down on the soil that completes its life cycle..or perhaps, a feather, just...fallen..when I read your love poems, no matter how parched I may be, I feel the well is bottomless.

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  2. A rosary made of birds would be very hard to hold onto; it would always be trying to fly away---fighting against being held. And yet, they are still for you. You are some kind of magic, girl.

    I love this: "My hands know your name, and the braille of my body in its longing."

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  3. I adore the phrase (and hate you because of its creation ;) "the braille of my body."

    Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if each one of us had someone writing VOLUMES of love poems like this about us?

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  4. like petals falling from end of the season flowers ... soft

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  5. i draw with pencil - so do you. :)

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  6. Lovely, melancholy, amazing poem, Shay. xo

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  7. It was all beautifully abstract until:

    "My hands know your name, and the braille of my body in its longing."

    Then it came alive! My favorite flavor: bittersweet!

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  8. This is so filled with longing and hopefulness and cherishing.. leaves one with quite an ache in the chest.

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  9. This one pierced my heart with the longing I did not know I had, until I read your poem. Wowzers. So beautiful.

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  10. "I have a rosary made of birds"

    This is both a disturbing and enchanting line. Nice job threading that needle!

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  11. Shay, you write out the ache like no one's business: here you convey that longing and absence of solace through a series of images each unique and heartbreaking. From the rosary made of birds (which summoned a feel of before rome bone worship) to trucks singing the street. I also love the concept of the braille of the body, the bumps and formations we know with hot palms and eyes closed. Tremendous work, viva la

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  12. TexWisGirl is right; this is like a pencil sketch, light, delicate, and with just the perfect shadows. This took my breath away.

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  13. You in the mood to play? Just posted three new word lists today:

    http://flipsiderecords.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/prompt-words-11-happy-birthday-mark/

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  14. "a rosary made of birds"

    gorgeous!

    love the song, too.

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?