Yellow
catkins drip
from grey willow,
catch early morning light through mist.
Another season dwindles like smoke or ghosts
of long-lost family and friends, and drifts
away with my self-worth, my memory,
the agility of mind and body.
Yet I am are still learning,
in my nostalgic yearning,
to become untethered
like a boat and float.
Kim M. Russell, 8th May 2018
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: I am Learning Still and linked to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Tuesday Platform
Mish is our host today and she has hit us with a quote from Michelangelo, which was scribbled in the margin of one of his drawings: “Ancora imparo” or “I am still learning’. She has shared further prompts and an anecdote about her mother to show that we can continue to learn new things, right into old age.
Mish says we know that learning takes place in many forms from formal education to the hard knocks of life. For this prompt, she asks us to write poems about what we are still learning. It can be concrete such as learning to cook or fly fish, or more personal like facing our own emotions, demons or shortcomings. Maybe we have much to learn of society, culture, human interaction or our own reflections in the mirror. She asks us to be honest and humble; to write from the heart or keep it light.
It is so true that we learn all the times. Writing from the heart, especially about real life experiences can be so powerful and beneficial!
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Thank you for reading and commenting!
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It is hard to learn from loss. Since those who are gone evaporate like smoke or ghosts. Thank God for memories. I like the, ” Yellow
catkins drip
from grey willow,
catch early morning light through mist.”
Sounds like you were in a garden
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I was!
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😁
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To liken the learning to that tethered boat is wonderful… love it.
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Thank you, Bjorn!
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beautiful
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Thank you, Maureen.
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The last stanza is so beautiful, bringing a sense of hope and freedom. Especially like this….”Another season dwindles like smoke or ghosts”.
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Thank you, Mish!
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Learning “to become untethered” and not fear the floating away from what’s known and safe… Yes, I want that too–thank you!
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Thank you for reading and commenting!
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I love your last stanza and the feeling of weightlessness by becoming ‘untethered like a boat and float’ is wonderful.
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Thanks Jo.
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Loss can be overwhelming.. but it does teach us life lessons.. especially like; “to become untethered
like a boat and float.”
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😊
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Tough to sail away from memories and what we love.
Boats have a life of then own… Seems like a wise thing to do- float way!
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Tough to sail away from memories and what we love.
Boats have a life of their own…
Seems like a wise thing to do- float way on waters blue & never be blue!
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Thank you, Anita!
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My boat floats, but I think it’s still tethered to shore! I am reluctant to let go of all the special memories. This was a provocative read!
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Thank you, Bev!
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“I am still learning…to become untetherdd….” That is indeed the lesson! Loved this poem.
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Untethered……
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Learning while we wait! Describes it well!
dwight
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Loss can be a great teacher for sure. This is beautiful Kim!
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Thank you, Carrie!
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Some days, I wonder if it is to our own yearnings that we are tethered. And if that’s the case, what happens after they are fulfilled? What inspires our learning and our wanting after that…
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Maybe that’s all we are, Magaly, a mass of yearnigs.
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Learning to become untethered. YES. Love that.
And this:
“Another season dwindles like smoke or ghosts”
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Thanks De!
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Willows are beautiful with those yellow catkins.
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At the moment they are dropping all over my clean washing!
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The more we experience loss- the less we know. A powerful write.
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Thanks Viv.
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😊
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Such a descriptive picture of aging. BUT, hold on to that self worth as long as you can!
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Thank you, Mary!
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