Modern Sorcery
By Charles Simic
You could have been just another maggot
squirming over history's roadkill.
Instead a witch took pity on you, lucky fellow,
Instead a witch took pity on you, lucky fellow,
made you say abracadabra, and much else
you didn't understand
while you held on to the hem of her skirt.
You know neither the place nor the hour
of your transfiguration.
A kitten lapping a drop of milk
fallen from the Blessed Virgin's breast
in a church at dawn. That's how it felt:
the two of you kneeling there.
Outside, there was a flash of lightning
like a tongue passing over a bloody knife,
but you were safe.
Hexed once and for all in her open arms,
giddy and ticked pink with her sorcery.
*************
This poem is from one of my favorite anthologies, "Staying Alive, Real Poems for Unreal Times" edited by Neil Astley which I've mentioned several times before. It's loaded with great poetry---overflowing!! I know I posted this poem a while back, but I'm doing a rerun because I love it so much.
I love, love, love the imagery in this poem. It literally makes me wince every time I read it. Great stuff!
I'd like to ask everyone to pray for Renee, one of my dear blog friends, who lives in Canada. Her sister is battling inoperable brain cancer and her 25 year old nephew (same sister's son) is battling a rare stomach cancer. They were both diagnosed only recently. They need healing miracles and our loving thoughts.... I appreciate you all!!
Hugs, Love, & Blessings,
~*~Marion~*~
"I believe in prayer. It's the best way we have to draw strength from heaven." ~Josephine Baker
"If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give." ~George MacDonald
9 comments:
Oh, my! I will certainly say some prayers for Renee and her family.
Hugs to you, too, on this sunny Sunday afternoon.
Thank you, Kelly. It's thundering here, a little storm system coming in from Texas. We need the rain, though. And there's nothing better than a stormy Sunday afternoon for reading. Thanks for your prayers for Renee. I appreciate you. Blessings!!
I, too, will say prayers for Renee and her family!
Marion-I really like the language of this. Repeats are good, my memory is bad. Renee and her family are never far from my thoughts and imbedded in my prayers. Have a blessed Sunday, Dear Friend, ~rick
Thanks, Pammie. I've been praying for you, too! I hope the foot is better, girlfriend....Renee is one of the strongest, bravest, wisest women I've met here in Blogland. I know she'll feel us holding her up with our prayers, love & friendship. Blessings!
Rick, I thought you might enjoy this one. I had already typed it before I realized I'd posted it before. My memory is shot. LOL! Yes, dearest friend of my heart...I know that you, Annie and Erin and many, many others are also praying for our dearest Renee. Her beautiful spirit has attracted so many friends here in Blogland!!! I pray she can experience the strength and love we are all sending her like waves of comfort. Hugs & Blessings!~!~!
I love the poem. Do you know, I went into a small Borders bookstore today and there were exactly two -- count 'em -- two books of poetry on the one shelf marked "Poetry". I bought them both. One of them, a paperback anniversary edition of Leaves of Grass was $5.95. Can you believe that? What a sad statement. In today's "Parade" section of the newspaper, someone had written in to ask why we need a poet laureate since no one reads poetry. I could have cried.
On another note -- my prayers this day are with Renee and her family. So sad.
Marion, I'm a bit of a drunkard in the alley when it comes to proper prayers but I sure would scrape my heart raw for this special woman and her family. I will organize my thoughts into coherant demands, for I think we're at this stage, past niceties, but rather at a fist pounding point, and say, Yes, spare them, Give them life, Show some mercy.
xo
erin
The poem holds both my kind of language and imagery. Raw. Haunting.
Karen, I give the local bookstores hell about their lack of poetry. Our mall has a Waldenbooks and they have no poetry section. They used to and removed it. And our Books a Million has a small Poetry section that gets smaller every time I visit. I complain there, too.
Oh, and our local library! OY! We visited a beautiful new million dollar branch of the library Saturday (complete with a coffee shop) and it has the sorriest old books of poetry I've ever seen. I have better poetry in my HOUSE! I'm going to write them a letter about spending a small fortune on an expensive building and nothing on books. It's a sin and my pet peeve as you can tell! Thanks for stopping by, Karen, and for your prayers for our Renee....Blessings!
Erin, I'm with you on Renee. I've prayed more in the past month or so for her family than I've prayed in a while. How much can the heart stand? I just keep on keeping on and trusting God to hold her up.....Thanks for visiting and for your comments. Love & Hugs & Blessings!
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