Express Yourself

Be who you are and say how you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
--Dr. Seuss

Monday, March 9, 2015

December

I started writing this poem at the Sam Houston State Writing Project.  I left it alone, unfinished, until a traumatic experience jolted me from my poetic slumber.  A family member was hospitalized.  When this event occurred, I wasn't quite sure how to understand completely what had happened. I was in some kind of funk. I couldn't sleep or concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing. Finally, after much processing time and soul searching, I finished this poem. I went back to the unfinished version and poured my heart out into it. When I finished it, I felt liberated from a heavy fog that wouldn't dissipate.  Writing is truly cathartic, especially when it is poetry.  I hope you get a glimpse into what I was going through and feel a sense of relief in the end.  I dedicate this poem to my beautiful sister Diane. She is an inspiration to me.



DECEMBER

By M Ucles

Born
Into this world
Seven on the day of infamy
Seven in the cold, cold rustling wind
Brushing up against my rosy red cheeks
Nose nastily running
Searching through
Once barren pockets
Housing the puffs of plenty
 Wadded into a ball

I stand
Peering into the dark and dreary
Dark and dreary monstrous tree branches
Flailing effortlessly into nothingness
The ultimate struggle captured
As a frozen Polaroid
Lifeless
 Alone


I behold
Yet cannot contain
This moment
So surreal
Surrounding, engulfing
Everything I am



Serenely
Delicately
Reaching, grasping
Covering
Caressing
Embracing
Consuming

Snow
Descending effortlessly
Numbing, piercing,
Placidly pervading my being
       Blanketing my soul
In a motionless dance



No sound
No words
Pure silence
  Peace
Enters side door left
for a second
or two
maybe more

Peace
Finally
Soulfully
Lovingly
Alights
My way
Thank God Almighty
Peace At last
Peace At last
Permeating
My heart
My Mind
My Soul
Palpable
Pristine
Peace


Thanks so much! I guess I was trying to capture the feeling of numbness in the cold but at the same time a peaceful feeling coming from a place of struggle. I think you captured the essence of it. I wrote this after my sister was in the hospital. At the time, I couldn't concentrate on anything. I was extremely worried and didn't know how to really process what had happened. I was numb. Then I looked over a poem, that wasn't finished, from the summer and then I went from it and this is what morphed from my extreme makeover in the revision. I was revising things inside of me and trying to make sense of things. It was so cathartic for me. When I finished this, after a couple more revisions, I felt great about it and wanted to put it up. It was after this, that I could concentrate and get back to work and life. It was a way to get things out and vent, if that makes sense. Thanks for your kind words! Please over analyze all day, if that's what you call it. I call it going deep, very deep! Mil gracias!
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Beautiful Maureen! One can look at this poem from different lenses. It invites the reader to think in different perspectives of their lives and not just about a birth month or day. You say so much with this poem. "Born Into this world Seven on the day of infamy" I think of the opposite events occurring on that same day, life and death. In reality both ends were about survival. I love the arrow shapes you used to convey a more meaningful poem. It definitely adds and strengthens the conventional elements of the poem, especially in the meaning of words and rhythm. One can easily connect through experience of sadness and happiness, birth and loss, negative and positive, sickness and health because the title "December" opens the door to various interpretations which means that many will just love it. I'm thinking of the many ways one can be born after life changing experiences occur in our lives. After all, isn't peace and happiness what we seek the most? Maybe I'm just over-analyzing your poem Maureen... OOPS! hahaha! I do that sometimes. I've enjoyed reading "December". Awesome!


By Maureen Ucles

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