unearth -- RWP minichallenge III

I'm posting all three parts here, because I think it is one poem.  Also, just to say -- this exercise has resulted in something much different than my usual. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, I can't yet tell:

  

I.

the walls are filled with the lives of children
what appears to be an exit changes to a trap
you have everything to lose

oil rainbows the water, a thin & dangerous sheen
that pain you call love pulls you away
there is no point in stopping

in the middle of the mountain road
an old woman walks in the wrong direction
she is thin & frail, she wears a red coat

years have passed, buildings torn down, rebuilt, renovated
each place you sail into more beautiful than the last
sometimes she can be heard, crying in the lake

the sun drops into the sea like a stone
you repeatedly forget what you have remembered
this part lasts forever

  

II.

this is how it happens
static in a closed room
an electrical hum

I open my hand
sparks escape from my palm, crackling
like petting a cat in the dark

you reach out & touch my face
a cradle, a caress
it's warm there, where our skins meet   

  

III.

you diminish in my arms & I want to take you into my body
the sky is washed with green light
you are not cold       you are not there 

a small forest grows from fallen trees 
we build houses & friendships around us like crypts
a string of mussel shells crosses the path       you will have luck

the earth holds me up.       feel that, you say.     feel it.
I shake off the fear and make a place for myself
where your edges touch my edges       there is pain

we watch skipping stones of light on the water
the sky is nearly cloudless & goes pink at sunset
the moon comes up one day from full, with a face and a soft aura

I try to find my own name
the river reflects nothing     it absorbs the light
I can't carry this mask much longer

 

   poetry mini-challenge

Comments

[Mark]

Reading them all together...wow.

The last part is very powerful to me.

[Keith S. Wilson]

"where your edges touch my edges"

I really dig that line.

[carolee]

i'm thrilled you say the challenge pulled something different from you. whether you end up deciding "different" is good or bad, i bet it influences future writing for the better. the poems that seem "odd" to us or out of character for us, i think, open up new places to explore, even if we end up exploring them in a way that's more familiar. does that make any sense?

i also liked seeing all three of these together!

[Catherine]

I read the middle one when you first posted it, and it is really interesting to see it as one part of a longer poem.
There are some wonderful images in here, it has a mysterious feeling to it.

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[sarah]

These are wonderful, they leave such a space of stillness on my heart. I especially love the very first line.