The Harrows of Halloween

 
The Harrows of Halloween
 

This night of black-leaf key
opens the old door between worlds,
the dead I knew flit through, cast no shadows
on the moist opened earth,
the dead I did not know this orbit
come costumed through
grimace at my puzzled witness,
for in this ancient valley
dead-sight is granted
to the fay-touched few.
They affirm connection
the helix thread of everything
since the singularity of creation.
The earth is old
her children seek forbidden revelation
unhallowed Halloween a harrowing.
 

Katherine L. Gordon
October 31st. 2012.

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 Halloween 2012
We have your back, Conrad!

Warmly,
Penn

and the poem:


Malala


Malala, your name sounds like a song
but it means grief-stricken in Urdu,
language of poets. You are named
after a poet, a warrior woman and
you have so lived up to your name.



The courage it takes to cross borders
defined by others, courage to uphold
freedom to read, learn, speak­ to be
the fully human that is all our birthright.



“Every girl in Swat is Malala. We will
educate ourselves. We will win. They
can't defeat us,” states her classmate.



Now it’s our turn to take up the call,
education for every child for which
women and girls today rally across
India, Pakistan and Afghanistan lands.



Malala, Malala. I hear the ululation
of lament and of celebration for her.
Can you hear what she’s crying? You
can join her common cause. But
how fares the girl in her hospital bed?



That beautiful face blasted. Her voice
silenced, her eyes shut. Hang on, girl,
hang on. There’s work to be done and we
desperately need such spirit among us.


Her father cries when Malala falls that all
Pakistan stands up.  And now she  too can
stand, what will Pakistan do?   March on...


Grief is no time for emotion. Let sky open
and open to more sky. Light, we call for
light to dispel the darkest oppression. Her
name on a million lips in many tongues.

Malala, Malala, Malala. Hear the ululation

and respond.

All the very Best,
Penn

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praise for Ed Baker's haiga Shrike 

Hi Ed,
Quick note before I poopify Chase & myself to start the day (after finishing the coffee) ... read Shrike last nite - it's a beautiful piece, the shamanistic relationship between a master haijin and a new familiar. Shrike details that delicate  'flirtation' between the realms when totems begin that inter-realm friendship. The haiga perfectly complements ... Shiki, Buson, Basho are smiling somewhere. I had this kind of friendship with 'Big Blue', the heron which lived at ZenRiver.

True story for Halloween Eve:
Also had an incredibly powerful & scary as hell interlude with a great owl the time of me re-awakening about a decade ago. The huge old owl shared some very strange interactions with me & my car, & when I visited him that nite - after popping a handful of Tylenol 3s to fight off kidney stone pain - well, he was 'inhabited' by an ancient First Nations shaman. Initially a very frightening & dangerous encounter, but when I tried to back out of the contact & the old one realized I wasn't competing for the possession of the owl (A), and (B) that this human might make for an interesting future possession - well, they took me for a nite flight over some of my favourite & most remote bush trails. Quite the buzz to fly over after years of traipsing thru.
literally, Gotta Go!!!
P&P!
C&C!


On 2012-10-31, at 8:36 AM, Ed Baker wrote:

here is something that just might "tickle yore phansee" :

http://www.haigaonline.com/issue6-2/cs/eb.htm

didn't you have an high-coo in Simply Haiku in an issue that I was in ?

word just in from Alec Newman (knives forks and spoons press).. :

"we should have a proof (of Ars Poetic Her) for you in about 12 weeks"

Ed

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Ed Baker has left a new comment on your post "The Harrows of Halloween":

and for those two or 4our out there yet interested
Shrike as tel let did it nicely is here:

http://edbaker.maikosoft.com/shrike/1.html



Posted by Ed Baker to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 31 October 2012 14:07
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