How strong the wood is
how heavy the water
how fire burns you and saves you
how we can suffocate in space.
A leaf knows no direction
and it cycles. How I slip across
a plank of moods
how I gaze so far in my small mind
how I am not this sick body,
but a cycle–a circle, a painted sphere in orbit
given to touch–to feel–magnitudes.
I know no direction.
The dark, the light–two poles of a whole.
Balance: I pull you too far down and then too high,
but at such lengths I wander beyond myself
examining the weight
the burning
the constancy
the continent
of such a life.
copyright@AmyJoSprague
Difficult Degrees 
Amy, I am so far away from myself. What you say here above describes you. I can’t even get close to describing myself. I keep thinking I’m on it. I’m better. I’ve got it figured out, but I can’t write a word that means anything. I’m going to steal some of the these quotes on your blogs. They are brilliant and I don’t know why I don’t have them in my own cache. I collect great quotes. Health and love to you my friend.
xo,
mary
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I applaud you. I am much the same. Love and Light,
Sender
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Keep the faith, it’s a road and worth writing. I can’t remember which poet said that Dante got through Hell “wrapped in the meters” of Virgil — meaning, when you’re going through hell, keep writing. And don’t stop. Lots of interesting terrain on the way, anyway. (Purgatorio is SO much more fun than Paradiso.) I did a post recently on “Madness and the Creative,” really about the Va. Tech massacre, but the essay suggests that madness and creativity are destructive and productive faces of the some same thing. If you care to read: http://tinyurl.com/4mvw5oa . p.s. I think life slows us from mania into meaning, but it takes years. And meds. And grace.
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“there is no birth of consciousness without pain” –Jung
RT
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A beautiful page about a beautiful person.
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🙂 That’s so sweet of you, Lisa
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I really love your line (because it really is you!) “How the darkness is, in a sense, also a true light”.
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I can relate to a lot of this. Thank you for being open, honest, and not sugar-coating. ‘Tis the stuff of reality, and teh grit of good poetry. To hell with the flowery crap…
thank you Amy
Luke
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What it takes to find that love….you summed everything up beautifully in that sentence.
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Hi Amyjo~
You have never met me, but I feel like I know a lot about you. I have had the privledge of watching you grow through your sister. I want you to know you are an inspiration and I am so relieved you have found your will to not only survive, but to truly live! ……..only those who have experienced such depth of unbearable pain could so eloquantly put her words into such a graceful art form. Congratulations to you! Karen
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awesome..
check out short story slam today. hope to see your participation.
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been ambling around your site here, and have found so much of beauty and hope in this little virtual “place” where you share your process. thank you so much.
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siubhan, thank you very much! It means a lot coming from such a talented writer. Thanks, I’ll be ambling around yours today–your “Epitaph for the Soulless” blew me away–it’s incredible.
amy
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