“The Goddess Nut”, choka (long poem)

 

 (redbubble.com:  The Egyptian Goddess Nut by Amanda Burns El Hassouri.)

I took a tumble off the back porch on the 4th….ok, except a broken wrist and a cracked rib….I landed on my left side falling 6 feet into the soil and unfortunately rocks….so i will be off line because I can’t ype and want to thank those who commented on this poem….when I can, I’ll be around to your blogs to read.  Thank you for your patience.

Lady Nyo

When I first started writing poetry, I came across choka. This is a very early piece of poetry.  This poem was influenced by a painting by a dear friend, Nick Nicholson, in Canberra, Australia.

For those readers unfamiliar with  choka, it is a very early Japanese form of poetry: choka is called ‘long poem’.  It can get to 100 lines and still be in the form.  I haven’t written choka in years, and  forgot how good a form it is to ‘tell stories’. One basic form of choka is 5-7-5-7-5-7-7…or a variation on this.

Lady Nyo

 

–

The Goddess Nut

–

I am the Temple

of the Universe at night,

I am Goddess Nut

I spread my body over

the dark, silky sky

and the Sun is born from my

open mouth at dawn, each day.

 

 

Invisible moon

crawls into my bowels at dawn

as does brother Sun

at night when his glory dimmed

and I cradle both

within me their majestic

glory now dulled down

until the release of them

thrown high up into the sky.

 

 

I am the keeper.

All Celestial bodies

I, the nourisher

of life and death that passes

I, Nut, sleep at day,

my stars and I well hidden

by the birth of Sun

but courted by Geb, Earth God

who sucks the night dew

from my two breasts with sweet lips

reaching with stiff cock

makes the Earth fertile with love,

and the universe fruitful.

 

 

I am the River

where planets and stars sail through

on their skyward journey,

the celestial travail.

My Houri marks time,

passage of cosmic travel

discarding their veils

til naked at dawn, retire

on the horizon.

They sleep once again under

My belly and gathered near.

 

I am the passage.

I am the Keeper of Souls.

I am mystery.

My presence lends fear to man

I touch eyes with sleep.

I round out the universe

dark fulsome Night.

 I am Nut.

 

 

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2007, 2012

I use ‘fulsome’ in an older meaning: excessive.  There is still an undecided element to this word in usage today.  But language is never static and blows about as it will.  That, to me, is the excitement of it all. 

Tags: "The Goddess Nut", "The River", 'long poem', Choka, dversepoetry.com, Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Geb, Houri, poetry, The Keeper of Souls, the Night, variations possible on choka