Saturday, June 12, 2010

the new order


I am a magpie.
My fleshy nest is feathered in flotsam.
Not a hoarder, but rather, a hunter, gatherer
of thoughts, scavenger of curios and the curious.

Like Mary Kate Danaher,
I must have my things about me,
until the fate of the new familial order
ascends with flourish; mutiny, without asking.

The manor, ready for auction, is shiny,
stripped and greased, for meticulous scrutiny.

The coronation flask, the one with the crown
and manacled G and E, is taken down, emptied
of pencils, writing, and worth, and marked,
so appropriately, “Goodwill”.

I, too, am carefully wrapped, boxed,
and labeled “assorted secrets and stories”,
a discreetly forgotten casket, stowed
dowerless, in a thrift store of dirt.



willow, 2010


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68 comments:

  1. wow. this is a powerful poem. thought provoking and sad really. yes, the things we love, our life, for everyone it comes to this.

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  2. I had to return to the original post to say this. I really love that line break between gatherer and of thoughts. it creates a surprise.

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  3. "My fleshy nest is feathered in flotsam." Lovely and precise, like Mary Kate Danaher must be.

    And the speaker is in a forgotten casket...in a thrift store of dirt."

    What power this poem imparts, from the coronation flask being given to Good will, or a reminder of a Good Will, to the casket of assorted secrets and stories. Treasures in every line.

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  4. A beautiful and poignant poem indeed. Your descriptive abilities amaze me, and they are true delight to read.

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  5. Love the poem but are you really selling the Manor?!

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  6. Fine line between a hoarder and a gatherer don't you think? I like my things around me but over the years the amount of things is less. More manageable.

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  7. wow. that last stanza brings it home nicely...

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  8. Alaine, no not yet, anyway! I'm writing about the new order that takes over after my death.

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  9. Techno, I've known a few hoarders, and thank God, I am just a gatherer!

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  10. Alaine, oh, no-no, not at all. I've been thinking about this subject ever since I watched the movie "Summer Hours" last week, about families and the leaving behind of a lovely era and gently moving into a new order. It's a bittersweet part of life that happens with the passing of every generation.

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  11. And as it needs to be....lovely Willow, just lovely!

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  12. Good will indeed- I like this.

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  13. I am really taken with this poem..and struck by the last stanza..so final.

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  14. "a hunter, gather of thoughts"
    ....love the line, amazing how an object can provoke images ...but then to wrap them up ...is sad, always sad to let go... bkm

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  15. I actually had to look up 'flotsam'. :) You truly are a magpie!

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  16. Just love and completely connect with the last stanza! It's me. It's probably all of us. Terrific poem, Willow!

    Rick

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  17. Lakeviewer, Mary Kate Danaher is the character in "The Quiet Man" wonderfully played by Maureen O'Hara. "...since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of havin' my own things about me.”

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  18. Oh dear, I feel rather like that Magpie, but probably 'hoarder' as well. I too wonder what will become....

    I really do like your poetry Willow. I always read each piece at least 4 times.

    Bisou, Cro.

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  19. Wow Willow---very thought provoking indeed. I, too, am like you. I have my favorite "things" all around. Things that I'm sure will be discarded once I am gone. Others will not view them the same way that I do, to be sure. I'm glad that you're not selling the Manor. There comes a time in our lives though, that we start contemplating it, don't we? B and I have been there and have decided to stay...for awhile yet. Until we can't walk up and down the stairs.

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  20. As always, I'm amazed at your creativity - from the poem to the the new blog "do". Lovely.

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  21. Ahh, a reference the 'The Quiet Man'. One of my all time favourites.

    Lovely poem, by-the-way.

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  22. Dear Willow, There are times, I believe, when it is saluatory to consider one's own mortality. You have done this in such a sensitive, moving, powerful and totally eloquent manner.

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  23. This powerful piece reminds me of an experience I had recently Willow.
    I stumbled across a group of elderly lace-makers when I was searching for threads in a small shop I'd never ventured into before. These women met once a month in this little shop overflowing with tapestries, needles, yarns and buttons, working away with intricate small spindles and pinned patterns. Their work was exquisite. "I know darn well"said one of the ladies, after I'd expressed admiration of her work "that after I'm gone,most of what I've done will end up in Goodwill!".The other ladies all laughed and nodded in agreement. A very thought-provoking poem.

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  24. mutiny, without asking
    This summed up the whole poem for me, of a new generation taking over, and the old being tossed away uncared for. Wonderful poem, willow.

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  25. Hello Willow,

    A lovely, powerful poem. I'm grateful
    a) that you aren't selling the Manor and b) for your explanation to Alaine
    because I am often too dense to see what lies beneath!
    The last stanza is very good.

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  26. mary kate was quite the character, and stubborn. going through all your gatherings will be a daunting challenge!

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  27. I went back to read your poem several times. It is good to remember what becomes of us and our things in the end. Fortunately there are a few people like you who treasure old things and old stories so that a few survive. I am not familiar with Mary Kate or the Quite Man?? but when I think of beautiful things, I think of one of my favorite movies, "Out of Africa" and the last dance with Denis when all her things are packed to sell. I have only seen the movie, have alway meant to read the book.

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  28. Willow,

    I spent all last evening looking through the Wikipedia section labeled "Actors who committed suicide". There are hundreds. Some were successful, but their personal demons got the best of them. Some wanted to be successful, and their failure to be so ended in despair that was too great to continue.

    But each one was a life... and there are so many, many more lives that don't end that way, but continue on in silent misery.

    It got me thinking about humanity as a whole - how little control we have, and how hard we struggle to attain it.

    Your poem exactly captures that feeling of loss - how no matter what we do, what we love, what we gather in life, it all just becomes flotsam when we die.

    I will admit to a momentary panic when I thought you were selling the manor.

    Love,
    M

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  29. Wow, Willow--this one really packs a one-two punch! Mortality is weighing heavily on me right now as my sweet stepfather transitions to a new order. I think what i find so powerful about this post is how you so subtly honor the next hunter who has the good fortune to unearth what was gathered by the narrator. Good will, good tidings.

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  30. Willow, I had to read through the comments until I came to the one that you aren't selling the manor, because that is what I thought your poem was about, as well.
    It's a beautiful poem, but so sad, really. I don't want to be forgotten, nor my secrets, nor my stories. But that's the fate of humans, isn't it?

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  31. I see your nest woven with all those things, but also willow branches and bits of woolly socks. You are so good!

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  32. So...are you guys moving?? beaiful images. I always loved that movie, incidentally...

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  33. wow, Willow, thank you so much for stopping by my blog, and for your kind words. I find your blog exquisite! Your writing and your sensibility always make me think. Or feel.

    And thanks for clicking the follow button! So appreciated.

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  34. I love this! But I hope the vision doesn't occur for MANY years yet!

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  35. There is such a poignancy in the objects at an estate sale--well expressed!

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  36. Willow, this touches so close to home...and is as neatly composed as your "assorted secrets and stories." I too have the "Mary Kate" need for my things about me. I often find myself tucking little notes in books, doll's clothes, tree ornament collections, etc and sometimes fold letters about who should have my personal treasures and why they should have them. Several years ago, when I accompnaied my car guys to very elgant car show in SC, I sat in the shade with an elderly woman who talked about how she literally put color coded labels on the things she wanted her children to have..just to avoid "bickering"...I have never forgotten how smart and practical it seemed.

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  37. What is a Wanerian eater? I tried looking it up on the internet but only found references to a wagner paint eater.

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  38. Tea Duchess, I think I left that comment about being a Wagnerian eater in jest...heehee...you know, like his operas...weighty lower level, and all!

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  39. Glad to hear you all will still be at the Manor! I'd miss it if you left!

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  40. ohhh, the quiet man... who knew... thaz a great line in there... hmm, death becomes us all...

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  41. Holy Toledo! You moving?

    About moving on...

    I actually wrote my obituary once. I think it is on the computer.

    Try it.

    That will give you the creeps.

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  42. No, Abe, not moving. Just thinking ahead, but not to the point of writing my own obituary!

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  43. I loved Mary Kate Danaher. I think I love you, too.

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  44. Poignant and powerful. The leaving is palpable. Wonderful piece!

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  45. Wow. I'm glad I read through the comments, because I was taking a very different meaning from this than what you intended. It is a great poem--love the curios/curious connection. Thank you for sharing it.

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  46. Your reference to Mary Kate Danaher just thrilled me. So much of your poem is coming true for me IRL. When my husband gets too pushy about the pruning of the house goods, I'll pull my Mary Kate card. That should slow him down a bit.

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  47. Willow,
    How beautiful. I feel I know you more. And I know more why I connect with you: "I, too, am carefully wrapped, boxed, and labeled, "assorted secrets and stories," a discreetly forgotten casket, stowed dowerless, in a thrift store of dirt."

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  48. Good stuff. Last stanza is the ever repeating human tragedy. So much wisdom is buried with each passing. So write, girl write!

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  49. Willow, this is beautiful, beautifully sad.

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  50. Dear Willow: Your poems is evocative of my mood lately. Those things we dreamed and are now, and wont be. Total Tingle Time! Up the Spine! Brrrr.. Mary Kate Danaher! Yes! The Quiet Man! To get over this remember The Quiet Man's embrace that should settle this! Do not worry; I've been taking this kind of inventory too. The M card in the near future. If we don't have it in the heart it will never be anywhere. Things are nice; people are nicer! For sure I get your point and then the cold cold ground. I think place your sights on things not of this world works for any age. Sage Biblical advice. It can be quite physical and very spiritually challenging when we question the big "?". I try not to question too much anymore. Let it go child, let it go I hear Hans Christian King say in my earworm defence when I get too maudlin. This happens at this age magpies!Lovely thought provoking, eloquent poem! Most Excellent Willow!Jane Jones

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  51. Only when moving does one realize all the stuff that has been accumulated. And, yet, that flotsam is the life blood of daily events. There is a gradual letting go?

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  52. This poem gives me new meanings each time I read it.
    "My fleshy nest is feathered in flotsam" is a favorite line. Doesn't the act of writing, the poem itself, work in defiance of being "discreetly forgotten"? Hope so! I loved this poem.

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  53. Niamh, yes, isn't it a thrilling, yet haunting thought that our writing can endure beyond us?

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  54. A fabulous read! My mind kept reminding me of The Quiet Man. One of my favourite films!.... Prompting outside the box, too! lol

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  55. "assorted secrets and stories"..I'm glad boxes can't talk! You have classically represented the romantic drama of threshing through pieces of time we all perch on shelves.

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  56. Crisp, powerful, gorgeous. Very well done.

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  57. Ah, your words light a fire in my soul! The last stanza gave me chills.

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  58. Wow, really amazing poem. Now that's a gift with words.

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  59. Willow,
    A magpie from beginning to end.
    Nice!
    When I arrived home Friday last there was a similar souvenir waiting for my perusal.
    rel

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  60. So beautiful, you have mad skills! I can tell you put so much energy into each line, each one pulses with vibrancy. My fave though is 'My fleshy nest is feathered in flotsam.' 'fleshy nest,' is wonderful, I love this image.

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  61. I am truly inspired by you, Willow.
    what a wonderful read.
    hugs
    shakira

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  62. Willow, it's so often true that those items we hold dearest are discarded by our loved ones once we are gone. I, like you, attach feelings to certain items which may not have a great value on their own. Sadly I connect with your poem, having been a child who disposed of items held dear by my parents. I regret my irreversible actions all these years later.

    Awesome read. Truly enlightening. BTW, you have a dark side too!

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  63. As always, a beautifully written Magpie! My adorable mother was a bit of a hoarder ~ creating in me the need to simplify. Hopefully not in the extreme.

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  64. You - 'dowerless in a thrift store of dirt' I doubt it.

    Lovely piece Willow/Magpie.

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  65. So well written that now I feel I must do a bit of cleaning out. I especially loved the last stanza.

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  66. Your reference to 'The Quiet Man' fits so well. I am a habitue of thrift stores. I often buy pieces of porcelain and the like and find special places for them in my house because I know they would have been special to someone way back when. Your poem has actually really moved me.

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  67. A fitting poem for your photo, referencing yet another movie I have yet to see that I would love to see. Can I substitute "Cinderella man" instead?

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)