The World In Three Acres


When I was a young girl
revelation came to a small house
on a gravel road where agony
mossed the north side of dysfunction.
Angry words never reached
the roots of why … They just
left the broken bleeding.


When bitter shrank the walls,
I ran to where the wild things go
and buried my tears among
cottonwood seeds.


 With bare feet searching echoes
I roamed creek beds, watermelon vines,
and honeysuckle fences until a mockingbird song
bid me to sit and rest beneath its nest.


Open souled rhema came to me
in a psalm delivered on the wind.

“You are a child of earth and wings.
This world of three acres is your freedom.
Among decay, apple trees, bird,
deer, and rabbit are lessons to learn,
stories to tell, ties too strong to be severed.
The butterfly spirit lives in your heart,
wherever you fly hope will never desert you.”


So many years have weighted clock hands.
In the gray of shorter days I still hear
the wheel crush on gravel where dirt road met destiny.

 ©Susie Clevenger 2017

#NaPoWriMo2017

The photos are from that small bit of land where I grew up. The gravel road is the photo I chose for the cover of my book, Dirt Road Dreams.




Comments

Debi Swim said…
Beautiful and the ending is so right
Kerry O'Connor said…
I recognized the gravel road photo, Susie. Sometimes it is painful to revisit the past but your journey of hope continues to inspire.
Angie said…
these conversations you escaped to have with nature is so meaningful! those three acres made you a poet
Jim said…
It was so nice to be 'away' in those days of youngstering. We wrote on the same theme today, yours was more elegant and poetic, mine is 'Jim'. Also mine wasn't so hopeful. Or was it? Just not what we expected one should hope for.
..
Sherry Blue Sky said…
Oh, Susie. "They just left the broken bleeding." I love the message the land gave to you, especially "You are a child of earth and wings.......the butterfly spirit lives in your heart. Your closing lines have great impact. A wonderful write!
indybev said…
I've just spent some time scrolling through your blog and reading your poetry. Your masterful use of words is an inspiration. There are wonderful little nuggets everywhere! I'm relatively new to Poets United, and enjoying what I find here. Thank you for sharing your talent.
Brendan said…
One of the purest responses to the challenge, Susie. Hope finds its welcome where the angry world is left behind, in childhood refuges like these which turn out, blessedly, to be the internal compass we live the rest of our life by. Amen.
Anonymous said…
A journey into your own song of the earth. This is filled with beauty that dapples light over the dark foundation. Beautifully written.
said…
Wow, I love this:

"where agony
mossed the north side of dysfunction"
Sanaa Rizvi said…
'In the gray of shorter days I still hear the wheel crush on gravel where dirt road met destiny.' Sigh this is soo powerful!
Anonymous said…
So much beauty. Ironic that it surrounded ugliness and sorrow (An escape rather than taken in). The joy of these words show who won out.
grapeling said…
reminds me of the Lucinda Williams song Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, somehow...
Thank God for the healing power of Nature! And that you had the soul of a poet, and knew how to listen to the messages. A wonderful poem, enhanced by the photos that show us how real it all was.
ayala said…
A wonderful write.xo