A recent note from Geraldine Green reminded me to post another one of my poems that started in one of her dynamic workshops in January 2014, and was subsequently polished over a several months to result in this final version.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE ARROW BUTTON ABOVE TO HEAR THIS POEM
Passed amongst them from hand to hand
polished pebbles in a soft leather bag.
The bard’s fingers sift the sensual sack
seeking a smooth, attractant stone
carefully incised with a single rune
that may invoke the gods to speak.
The fist withdraws, fingers splay
‘Mah-nawz’ is the figured shape
the twentieth Elder Futhark rune.
Tension eases in the room
this symbol signifies support
the shape of shared experience.
The rune of the accomplished,
balanced, in natural harmony,
mastery of the primary faculty
— Language.
Grasping the rune, the bard speaks
of Askr, the first man, emerged from an Ash Tree,
Embla, first woman, transformed from an Elm
how family began the endless journey
how the weak fell by the way
how the strong gave support
how support built to obligation
shown in the strength of the rune’s structure.
Then the awaited divination:
Make time for solitude.
To be yourself, not defined by others,
the poet, like the deep rooted Ash
draws from every source to flourish.
The warmed rune-stone, having provoked,
was deftly slipped to the soft bag’s silence.
