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Saturday 10 August 2013

Poem: Bird in the cage





BIRD IN THE CAGE



I'm catching premonitions

   in the corner of my eyesight

like fallen stars, graciously cold

my fingertips found a teardrop

   under my skin – cells made of me,

like my brain or bones

I knew it as mine – yet a stranger it has become

grabbing me by the hand, leaving me searching...

                for the last breath

some force sweeping us into eternity

then we tumble down

in the last minute - we chase it

face falls down when we meet it,

the last time you say farewell

making history in these seconds

   nothing standing in the way

of becoming who you are

    our lives shared across time

and as I'll swim in the ocean

I'll remember your name 

*
 A patient once said she found cancer in her breast, and she described it as a teardrop. Listening to Nick Cave in the late hours of a summer night made the words flow onward.

23 comments:

  1. Oh, this really struck a chord, Natasa. One of my sisters is battling cancer right now. This made me weep.

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    1. so sorry to hear that...may she win the battle, and may you be there with her.

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  2. Premonitions are fearful monsters. Keep a song in your heart and walk by the shadows.

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  3. Hauntingly beautiful,the flow is great

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  4. the teardrop under the skin cells made of you....really cool lines...this builds really well toward a nice crescendo...the swimming in the ocean, remembering the name is a great close....cancer has touched my family greatly, my father has had over 100 operations....my uncle, my cousin...

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    1. more and more people are faced with it.. but to have like a hundred operations?! that's... takes courage.

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  5. Natasa, I have read poems of yours week after week; and this one is 'top of my list' I think. Very powerful, moving, real. The message just flows. I picture that this might have been one of those poems that kind of wrote itself, as it just seems to move so naturally. Very sad though. One which will stay with me.

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    1. indeed Mary, it is one of those.. I had the beginning lines down for a month, but it took one night, where my mind drifted and the words flew. thank you!

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  6. Illness or aging, in my case aging, conjures up more premonitions with passing years. The closing is particularly moving for me. Enjoyed.

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  7. This is a sweet and tender and lovely way to encounter, face and get to love and accept taht all taht's ours ...ours is.

    Greatly done
    thank you

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  8. my fingertips found a teardrop
    under my skin.................
    so moving.

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  9. So tender, speaks of the gentle spirit helping one as they battle such difficult things. Just beautiful!

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  10. extremely moving poem...agonizing too.very well written.

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  11. "like fallen stars, graciously cold"....so beautiful, Natasa, this poem........"I'll remember your name". Yes, you should find Women Who Run With the Wolves in your library - it is a wonderful read!

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  12. A very strong and beautiful piece.

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  13. Natasha,

    A most sensitive and thought evoking poem, written with a testing interlude along the journey of life. Excellent...

    Eileen

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  14. a moving and lovely piece of work. the closing lines are so strong.
    i liked the title too, a very good metaphor.

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  15. So very dreamy and compassionate! Reading this was time well spent!

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  16. So incredibly powerful! I can't even begin to tell you what this meant to me.

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  17. I like that finding a teardrop, full of meaning ~ Lovely share ~

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  18. That first stanza was so wonderful. The way the poem unfolded was quite the show

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