Saturday, March 15, 2008

We come full circle, blogversary

The wild garlic was unfurling along the cliff as it is now. I began writing this blog in March last year, tentatively, speaking to my many selves, speaking from my many selves. Hoping to bring them all together into a whole and connected one. I think I've succeeded, because nowadays, I'm a lot more comfortable in my own skin. I'm a lot less afraid of what I might find, well anywhere. Bringing light to dusty corners of your psyche can do that for you. Finding amazing friends and community along the way, that's a truly unexpected blessing. Thank you my friends, and my mentors, my guides along this journey.

Here is a poem about voice and grief. Many, many years ago now, I attended a funeral of a girl in my class, she was a young mother, she was diagnosed with a particularly fast acting form of leukemia and was dead before many of us even found out about it. As I drove through the evening home through the landscape of rural New York, this was just like what the spirit of place was saying:

Bare Boughs still this Spring
(In memoriam)

Rain and apple trees.
Lilac buds swell on black stems,
Secret, clitoral, rapt.

I can’t untie this knot, deep
where things come from, deep
at the bottom of my voice.
Joy, sprung rhythm,
clenched and petrified:
A fist, that born words batter against.
A fever in the blood.

By the stream, the clay leans
toward the water, eager for swiftness,
eager to reflect the sky,
Deadpan.

Only the colours of old paint,
Spread and bloom,
Like roots.


Don't let this be a gloomy poem - the spring here and now, is full of hope. Let's wish the knot untied. Let the fist unclench.

Happy Blogversary to me.

8 comments:

Kathryn said...

Happy Blogaversary!
xoxxo

Kak Teh said...

Happy Blogversary dear Pey!! Just came back from having tea, tea, tea and sandwiches with Yang-May. You must come and join us soon.

msiagirl said...

Thank you dear Kathy-girl!

Kak Teh: How lovely! I'm glad you two had a nice visit together. Hope to come up to London and visit sometime...will let you know when I am up next.

Anonymous said...

Aiyoh...I can't believe I haven't wished you yet!!!! I'm so glad for you blog coz that's how we met. Well, my blog too. Yay for all of us!!!! *big hugs*

JOjo said...

Happy Blogversary!
Wishing for many good years to come~

Tunku Halim said...

Lovely poem. I didn't realise your blog is only a year old. I recently celebrated my 1st anniversary too.

msiagirl said...

LL: Haha well said my girl!

Thank you for your good wishes, Jojo!

Tunku Halim: Nice to see you :)- Happy 1st Anniversary too...Sharon will point out we are all nearly "silver bloggers" with a presence on the web!!

Anonymous said...

My dear, we met barely two months after you first started blogging. The seasons have passed and brought us back full-circle. Full circle to what, one wonders?

If a year is renewed come spring, and we have endured 365 days of joy and sorrow, let Spring do just this... renewal and rejuvenation and the return of hope.

All that you have hoped your blog to be, it has become. A place for your writings, your poems and ponderings, your myriad passions, but more than anything a tight-knit community of readers and commentators.

This is a family.

You've warmed our hearts with your words and your dreams. The lyrics of the poetry you've shared resound. This is life. And that, indeed, is worth celebrating.

Happy Anniversary, dear. See you here, in all the years to come. Love you lots!