Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Penelope at the Loom

Today she will entwine red
the color of sunrise.
She pulls over and through vertical
Threads- packed hard down with the 
Shuttle leaving tight neat knots.

This is how she always spends her days
She thinks of her husband gone twenty years
Their infant son now a man.  How bitterly
Those hours spent arranged in colored weave
that shows no time, like the shore
licked nightly clean by tide.  She craves
Odysseus to float to her front door
heralded by seagull cries- a piece of driftwood
dropped, joyously, at her feet.

A freshness in the air and she recalls last night's 
buffet of rain that crushed out suitors' revels-
left olive leaves strewn over hard packed ground.
All summer gone in those leaves
all sundrench all dew.  Gaia giving
then destroying
what took eternity to grow.

Her days weave nights and nights unravel days
The tight weft of hours built up and loosed
Ceaselessly storing moments like coins.
Dawn's rosy finger streak the dark

Light has streaked her hair
By the rythm of some loom.


11 comments:

Miriam said...

very nice!

Miriam said...

Hey, with the loom and weaving going on in your blog now, there are some great ads for hair weaves coming up when I view it.

Carroll said...

Is there an introduction to this?
I'd like to know a little about it. I enjoyed reading it very much!

April Hunsaker said...

captivating! Have you published any of your work?

Anonymous said...

This is quite lovely. I always admired Penelope. =)

tsadkiel said...

Was this from college, or am I just crazy? It feels very familiar.

Aston said...

Penelope is one of my favorites. This was beautiful. I can't wait to have Dan read it. So funny I was just thinking about Odysseus this afternoon. (we watched Troy a couple of nights ago ... such a good movie)

Thank you for sharing your talent with us all. Can't wait to read more... hint.

Marie said...

A, Thank you. I have never really been published except in some college and HS literary magazines.

Chris, It's actually slightly post- college, but I may have had you read it. (Either that or all my poetry sounds alike, which is a distinct possibility.)

tsadkiel said...

No, I think you had me read it. Unless all your poetry is about Penelope.

April Hunsaker said...

Marie I remember that post! Your writing is amazing so you need to keep at it!

Marie said...

A,
Thank you for always being supportive. Hopefully, someday I will be able to balance my life enough to go back to writing some fiction. . .in the meantime, I will struggle to keep my blog updated. I hope you will start penning some ideas. I would love to read what you come up with.