“First Snowfall”….

 

‘PITCHER OF MOON’ NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM!~

http://goo.gl/RzFRj4

My beautiful picture

Outside from second story window….

My beautiful picture

Mimi prowling in the snow this am.

 

This morning the sun is shining, the snow and ice are melting and it’s beautiful outside. A chance to snuggle down and read books.  And bake bread.

Lady Nyo

 

First Snowfall

 

There is such beauty in the still-night.

A sudden snowfall has pushed

The boundaries of the mundane back

And fantasy flows like outrageous myths.

The white challenges the moon

Lights up a trampled ground

And gives a purity to all it covers.

Shadows form where there were none

A supple mystery to things once familiar.

Now a strange and alluring world

Transformed, remade anew,

Even forbidding as  huge trees

Groan with an icy burden

And bushes  split in two

With the weight of an alien gift,

 Powerlines crystalized spider webs

Criss-crossing streets.

The silence is deep

No modern disturbance intrudes.

It is Winter’s gag on our fretfulness,

Our restlessness, our noise.

We are commanded to stay inside

By the fire, to read a book,

To look outside and admire

A miracle that we, with all our intelligence

Can not reproduce.

This is Winter’s true gift.

We are to obey the season

This enforced solitude,

To wrap ourselves in this quilt of quiet,

Cast off our endless activity,

To finally be still,

To heal with the balm of serenity.

 Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2014

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7 Responses to ““First Snowfall”….”

  1. Caliban's Sister Says:

    “We are to obey the season”……so beautiful. Snow in Atlanta,
    it is a marvel that we cannot remake; only hope maybe to see again. Thank you for the beautiful poem. I will order your gorgeous book from Amazon. love you, CS

    Like

  2. ladynyo Says:

    Ohhhh! You are UP early, dear heart! LOL!

    This ‘poem in the mouth’ needs revision, but so it always is…LOL! So glad you liked it. You know I thought poetry dead in the brain here, but the Winter always is my spur to the senses. LOL! It is so damn cold here, darling friend, 14 degrees and the rooster is too cold to crow yet. I have an injured hen (fox attack) who is attacked by my red hen…the bossy little bitch, but the others like the injured one, cuddle around her and keep her warm. There is a lesson there for humanity I think.

    I hope you have a marvelous day…week, CS. I hope you get snow and have the space and time to enjoy it. I think you have this week?

    I send love and hugs to you…and thank you for getting “Pitcher of Moon”. Nick got Amazon to get off their asses…and he hasn’t even received his expedited copy yet!

    Love you back.
    Jane

    Like

  3. TR Says:

    Hi Jane,
    I enjoyed this poem a lot; as I’ve read your other poems about the seasons, I really like how my perspective of winter is changing. Since I especially dreaded Jan and Feb. But I have missed out on so much. It is a down time for me in so many ways. The circumstances of snow – especially here – where we need to stay inside and it forces us to reflect “A miracle that we, with all our intelligence; Can not reproduce”. The other thing is that Jan and Feb is always after a long visit with FOO – I have time to reflect and in a way the coldness always me that opportunity. I had never thought it like that before.

    Hugs, TR

    Like

  4. TR Says:

    PS
    Looking forward to reading the book – unfortunately I have to wait until March as I’m sending it to my FiL’s address in the US and am going back for a visit then. xx

    Like

  5. ladynyo Says:

    Good Morning, TR! I love your comments…they are such a gift to a poet! In part, it is because you take the poetry and relate it to your own life, situation. You share your personal struggles with the foos and with issues present in your life. that goes far beyond the issue of praise for the poem…it opens a window of connection and conversation that is a two way street…and that is where the validity of the poems and of our struggle to heal comes forth.

    Oh, those foos! I always feel that I am dwelling in the shadows around them…and I am. I am too insignifiant to register on their radar. But! For some brave people, they can handle it with injury. I can’t. So kudos to you for your courage to venture forth in these nests. LOL!

    Yes, the coldness of the season hands us such opportunities for contemplation but ESPECIALLY creativity! Winter is always the season, this time of solitude, no visits, no noise, the time of cocooning with books and cats, with just gazing at the bare trees outside, the truncated colors of Winter is that bare palette for our own creativity I believe. Intrusions are lessened.

    I wrote something about creativity and isolation on CZ’s blog late last night. I embrace the isolation this season brings, I relish it, because I can THINK. And thinking deeply brings on the possibilities of creativity.

    Also, the courage to create is brought by our encounter (the courage to encounter) opposition. We, as ACONs, certainly do know about opposition. It’s also a life=time struggle. So we buck up our courage and face the opposition…in our rare visits to the FOOs, and our handling of other narcissists in our lives…inside and out in the world.

    I wrote a poem about the Via Negativa…this downtime that marks Winter to me, but it could be any season. I think we find it when we realize it’s blessings. I think that poem which I will soon post on my blog…is more than a seasonal tribute….but that emptiness we all need to contemplate life and what and where we are going. It’s a long, life-time struggle, made a bit tougher by the rocks we have to climb over. (these rocks can and do for me…represent the FOOs)

    Thank you so much, TR…for reading and your comments. They propel me into a deeper appreciation of this courage to create. It’s there for all of us, just waiting until we get our legs back under ourselves!

    Hugs, Jane….and thank you for buying the book…regardless when you do. My dear, elderly Bavarian therapist kept stroking her copy while she was talking…the photo by Gary Hart on the cover…well, it IS the cover, just made her very happy. It’s a tactile thing, as the paper that Createspace used is good and ..well, feels like linen. LOL! There is SUCH a difference between getting an ebook and having a REAL book in your hands. And writers and poets should damn well know this. Ebooks are a perversion of this pleasure. LOL! It goes beyond a tactile experience…it’s something that gives you freedom to move around and carry with you. I love the physicality of books…they give great comfort in the hand and eye! To be able to wake up in the middle of the night and have a lovely book at hand is the greatest of comfort to me!

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  6. TR Says:

    Hi Jane,
    I enjoy how you capture the season. The 3rd paragraph is beautiful.

    Hahaha, relating it to my FOO experience – I guess I am in a phase of contemplation still. I’m very happy it is a bit too cold to spent an enormous amount of time outside so I can stay in.

    I appreciate your words for it brings out a different perspective, I am looking forward to reading it and feeling a real book. Yes, real books, I love the smell of them too. Hugs, TR

    Like

  7. ladynyo Says:

    Hi TR:…contemplation is wonderful, and the season is the perfect place, space to do so. We grow from these periods, where we gather our energies and what we have learned over the previous year.

    Yes, it’s cold, but it is also a blessing because it forces us to read and just sit and gaze out the windows…think.

    This is where all our growth I think happens…or the fertile field for it.

    REAL Books! LOL! Yes, there is just nothing better except for a box of chocolates that goes with the books. LOL!

    Hugs, Jane

    Like

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