From my poetry series, "The water lover"

[vaneramos]

ii. Meditation

In the early quiet my lover is dark.
Mist cloaks surrounding hills.
Thunder murmurs along the brow.
When I come to the interface
of our growing desire
     he takes me up in silver
and swallows me wholly
     in his embrace.

Profound is your holding
     and lovemaking.
I come to you weary, angry
     or anguished with loneliness & lust.
You will always lave my
     human stirrings,
cleanse my passions of corrosion,
turn my heart to stillness.

What else should I desire
but beauty, grace
     and a prevailing calm?
I have found them here
     in you, my lake.

Washed in mystery,
your love is greater than human.
You are an angel
     in the depths.

Of the hundreds of poems I have written in the past nine years, this is one of the closest to my heart. It is dated July 15, 2000. I have never published any of this series anywhere before.

I want to thank mylastsigh for sharing a poem by Mary Oliver which made me think of my favourite place in the world.

I want to thank draco_kc for some formatting advice many weeks ago, which I finally got to use.

Comments

[draco-kc.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome!

I love the poem, as well. Thanks for posting it!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. And thanks for the first part of your report on IML. I didn't get a chance to comment, but read it with interest and look forward to the rest. Hopefully I'll have a chance to make that trip sometime.

poetry is dead

[dubious-one.livejournal.com]

i heart your earthy, personified poetry. it's almost respectfully belittling to me. at any rate, i watched POSSESION last night (well, half of it) and I don't know if you have seen it, but it's good (what i saw of it). I haven't seen the end yet and I don't really want to tell you what it's about exactly (i had no idea what it was about but was pleasantly surprised) but there was a quote in the movie "Poets don't exsist anymore". This guy who writes was writing (ofcourse) and someone walked in and his first instict was to cover it up, to hide it, to put it away. He was asked if he was a poet and the response was as I mentioned above. It reminded me of a time where poetry was like food from the Gods and many poets strived on sharing their work with others. Now, it seems, that it is a dying art form for anyone that has a passion for it. Writing is one of the most primative forms of art and I as a 'writer' don't really feel that we will ever be able to re-create any era that reflected the true art of poetry. I know you have struggled (like any writer) to find a path in which you can at the least "make a living" at doing something that you obviously are very talented at. I'm sure you know that you are not alone. There are so many of us on the same endless journey. That single quote made me think of my journey, and the bulk of the rest of the movie was quite inspiring. You should see it. And don't stop writing. Ever.

Re: poetry is dead

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

As a teenager I used to hide the fact that I wrote, too. Along with a lot of other things about myself: that I had a garden, that I liked Classical music, that I was gay. Eventually I realized those were some of the best bits of me, and started liking them.

Art has been undervalued ever since life started getting easy and convenient. It is the soul of culture, and it is perilous to neglect. Eventually our safe, overstuffed lives will start coming apart. When life gets rough, people will long for beauty again. Art and community will become more important.

Meanwhile we're too resourceful to go away and die.

Re: poetry is dead

[dubious-one.livejournal.com]

indeed.

[missprune.livejournal.com]

Van, that is indeed a beautiful, perfect poem. I love the way I can read it on two levels. First I thought it was a tender poem about a human lover. Midway through, I began to see it was the lake - what more perfect lover could there be!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I like trying to create shifts in perception that way. Sometime I'll publish the whole series, which is all about the lover. The lover's identity isn't revealed until this, the second poem.

[lotuspoet.livejournal.com]

That is a very beautiful and profound poem and reminds me of some of my own love poetry because it describes an intense one-ness with your lover that mirrors a one-ness with the universe.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Funny how that first poem I saw of yours reminded me of one of mine. I guess you're one of those neat people with whom I have some threads crossed. I hope I'll get to read more of your stuff.

[superdus.livejournal.com]

That is absolutely beautiful. Thanks for sharing that.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome!