Lady Mathers Brings Us the 'Poet's Corner'
The Poet’s Corner
(showcasing various poets from all walks of life)
Marian Powell is currently membership chair for the Professional Writer’s Of Prescott (PWP). She moved to Prescott, Az in 2004. She has worked a variety of jobs from clerical to counselor to picking crops. She travels whenever she can to Europe, China, and has spent over a year as a kibbutz volunteer in Israel. Marian commented, “I figure with that background I had better be a writer.” She was first published at the age of 14, then waited a few decades to do online reviews, a few newspaper articles and in recent years two stories have been published in themed anthologies. Marian says she made a New Year’s resolution this year to keep stories, articles and essays out in circulation. As a result she said she is enthusiastically adding to her collection of rejection slips. The following piece resulted from two genuine conversations with a man she knew briefly many years ago.
Lovely Hair By Marian Powell
“Your hair is lovely. Let it grow long”
He said very drunk.
“I like long hair. In Vietnam…”
He drank another beer.
“In Vietnam, girls’ hair was long
Dark and flowing down like yours could be.”
“You loved a girl in Nam?” I asked
“A girl with long and flowing hair?”
Silent, he drank another beer.
“A special girl? A girl you hold in memory
A girl you cannot forget?”
Ordering yet another beer his silence broke,
“On patrol. The jungle dark all around
Gunshots. My buddy wounded. I fired back.
I found the one who fired. That was the one I killed.”
“And the girl?” I asked to distract him.
“How did you meet her?”
“Her hair was long and lovely
Wet seaweed across the jungle floor.
That’s what I thought when I saw her.
Seaweed in the jungle, all wet and red with blood.
She was the one who fired on us.
She was the one I killed.”
Silence then except for the drinking.
Days later I met him sober
He talked of business and all his plans
And I said to him “What of ‘Nam? You spoke of Nam”
Angry then he said “I don’t remember ‘Nam that well
It was so many years ago and it was such a bore.
Nothing ever happened, only long and dull patrols.
Let us talk of other things. Your hair is lovely
Let it grow long. I like long hair. I don’t know why.”
THE BARK OF ANCIENT TREES
A tree grows old and strong
Saplings are thin
Unformed
Featureless
The bark of an aged tree
Shows character
Shows cracks
Ridges
Flaws
And healing places
Where wounds add character
Not weakness
The bark of a tree is testament
Label
Award
Pronouncement to the world
I am
I stand
I exist
My triumph is
I exist
I support life
Not only green life and birds
But
Little unnoticed life
Inhabits my bark
Crawls about
Makes tunnels and homes
I am a tree
I am the universe
In me lives a world
When I fall and die
I become food
Life crawls over me
Lives on me
New life
New trees
Arise
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Tags: Poet's Corner, poetry