“Via Negativa”, poem from ‘Pitcher of Moon’

PItcher of Moon, available from Createspace, Amazon.com

http://goo.gl/RzFRj4

Thank you to Friend Julia Ewen for the lovely reception and poetry reading last night.  It was nice to meet other poets and hear work besides my own, though I read from my new book, “Pitcher of Moon”.  Having discussions on poetry, where they ‘came from’, how our work impacts our own lives and how we make connections with other lives, was a wonderful insight into this issue of poetry development.  Being amongst poets was a delight. Realizing the  issues we shared made for a real community based from our common efforts.  Though it was a small gathering, it was large in friendship.

And a positive realization that our work meant something in the world.

Lady Nyo

 

Spiral right back into Life

 

Via Negativa

 

Winter is the perfect channel

To carry Via Negativa,

No static

Just Silence, Stillness

And the Dark.

 

On this path,

We sit in contemplation,

No answers,

No struggle,

We are as empty as  an eggshell.

 

This time is colored by little outside;

A flash of darting cardinal

Like a stream of blood

racing past our eyes,

The sound of a falling limb

making us search the skies,

The moaning of the wind

bustling around limbs,

And the rattle of the skeleton- bones

Of attic haunts.

 

And yes, Death,

As Winter brings

To those who succumb to frigid winds,

And those lost from shelter.

 

We spiral into the Darkness,

Where we barely draw breath,

Conserve our energy,

And stare outside at such

A blank palette.

 

Stilling ourselves,

We draw closer to low fires,

Scratch our dried skin

Like a monk in a hair shirt,

And, with time and patience–

spiral back into the light of Spring.

 

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyprighted, 2014

Via Negativa from  “Pitcher of Moon”, Createspace, Amazon.com 2014