Friday, April 21, 2017

POETS OF MYTHOPOETRY: LEIGH MELANDER: TWO POEMS #guestpost #mythopoetry #NationalPoetryMonth 2017

























TWO POEMS



AND, ONE SPRING:




Spring breaks my heart

Being possible

Soothing away

The quiet lack of faith

Protecting me

From myself


A pilgrimage

Of violins and larks

Brings me back

To other springs

On a brick stoop

And praying crocus


A remembered light

To weep for

Joins me kissed

By wind breath

Wanting

Hands held out


They call it awakening

Arising, quickening

I am so afraid

Of such hoping

And such joy

Spring breaks my heart


©2007 And, One Spring Leigh Melander All Rights Retained

©2017 And, One Spring Leigh Melander mythopoetry.com

FOR DEREK WALCOTT AFTER HEARING HIM READ, “OMEROS” ONE HOT NIGHT IN AUGUST ON CAPE COD

This poem I wrote about and for Derek Walcott, and then studied with him. He just died at 87 last week (March 17, 2017), and it’s resurfaced in my consciousness.  At a pivotal moment in my life, Derek saw me as an artist, a poet, and invited me to come and study with him in Boston.  This act of kindness and of creative connection changed my life.


I heard a man speak tonight

Laurel words unfurling from his lips like

great white sails of ships

casting past the tide

and we ride out through the heat

and hear of Odysseus and his

journeys away from himself and

then back home again

where his solace waits nightly

alone in her bed

unsinging his death shroud


© 2005 FOR DEREK WALCOTT AFTER HEARING HIM READ, “OMEROS” ONE HOT NIGHT IN AUGUST ON CAPE COD Leigh Melander, All Rights Retained
©2017 FOR DEREK WALCOTT AFTER HEARING HIM READ, “OMEROS” ONE HOT NIGHT IN AUGUST ON CAPE COD Leigh Melander mythopoetry.com 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Leigh has an eclectic background in the arts and organizational development, working with individuals and organizations in the US and internationally for over 20 years. She has a doctorate in cultural mythology and psychology and wrote her dissertation on frivolity as an entry into the world of imagination. Her writings on mythology and imagination can be seen in a variety of publications, and she has appeared on the History Channel as a mythology expert. She also hosts a radio show on an NPR community affiliate: Myth Americaan exploration into how myth shapes our sense of identity. Leigh and her husband own Spillian, an historic lodge and retreat center celebrating imagination in the Catskills, and she works with individual and group clients on creative projects. She is honored to serve as the Vice President of the Joseph Campbell Foundation Board of Directors.

VISIT MYTH AMERICA RADIO
 
 

VISIT SPILLIAN


VISIT LEIGH AT http://leighmelander.com/