Sunday, April 19, 2015

PAD - Day 19 - Authority Poem 1. Avowed-They Do

Lilla Frerichs 



Avowed - They Do 

Standing now side by side 
in this new way -she with head 
still stubbly shorn -an infant owl 
blinking - he with skin hanging from 
his hulking frame - their skeletal fingers inter-
twined – no marriage this would have been before - 
but before was buried under boots – burned in acrid 
ash rising repeatedly –again, again, again, surreally 
insanely - still –until the gates opened and they tumbled 
out – here to clean water – a wash – a meal - to this street 
on this morning - unbearded rabbi thinly singing sweet 
remembered words -in this cobbled crumbled side-street, 
their ark -  the spread of sky – a white sheet thrown from an 
open window by unseen hands –they inhale in still breathless 
wonder-stretch their toes in shoes – she feels his heart beating 
in her finger-tips and when the word ‘authority’ is intoned – 
she turns from flashes of storm boots and snarls of shepherd dogs, 
rattle-cattle cars and forever unspeakable violation -rewrites authority 
now - here - with each breathed breath –belly bulge- stretching against 
her thin clean dress – the banish atrocity of authority begun – 
no hint of stumble in stalwart reclamation of self and future – 
beyond the cool morning of crumbled streets the shine of 
hot sun spills as honey on their heads –spills on shoulders 
straightened- these children of a promised land –standing 
together -sacred remembrants of all that was – 
Stirring in innocence yet reborn – 
legacies of light –  re-writing 
authority in the sparkling 
sand of time to be – 
seal this, their vow –
from crumbling street – 
There and Then, 
Here and Now – 
Wherever – Forever –
in clear voice
they 
do


2 comments:

  1. Oh, Pearl. "an infant owl, blinking" is so visual, so powerful.

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  2. Love the place this prompt went under your skillful pen, Pearl. There are levels of authority here -- external and internal, projected and introjected. Love the narrative -- the way it evolves from "standing now side by side" all the long-short way to "they do."

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