by Ethel Mortenson Davis
We stepped off
the edge of the world today,
blue above us,
blue below us,
nothing but sky and water
around us
until
death’s door
surprised us.
Not yet.
Not yet.
This is still not
yet our time.
Category Archives: Ethel Mortenson Davis
Blue Above Us, Blue Below Us
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
Wooly Bear Caterpillar
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
I’ve come to lie
my head again in your lap
this Wooly Bear morning:
Frost in the air,
the sky unbelievably blue,
the leaves red-orange.
I reach down and touch
The softness of the caterpillar’s
black and brown bands.
She quickly springs into a ball—
so strong, so resilient:
Strong enough to survive
90 below zero in arctic winters,
spinning a cocoon
and then in spring
turning into a Golden Isabella moth.
This strength is something
to take home with us
and rid our toxic relationships,
disregarding them like clothing
we let drop around our ankles
and step away from
with a new nakedness,
frankness,
ready to start building
new cocoons that turn us
into golden moths.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
An Angel of Sorts
To Ed DiMaio
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
I must tell you
that sometime
when all is lost,
when there is
no more hope in the world,
the great cosmos,
the lovely universe,
puts on our path
a free spirit,
an angel of sorts,
or a person of faith —
and says,
“Here is your protector,
the one who will lift your soul up,
the one who has come
this evening to be your guide
to position yourself again
in the universe.”
And now he says,
“How comely you are,
how lovely your skin,
how grand your soul.”
Now you have your answer,
the answer to Hopelessness:
Unexpected grace.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
Goddess
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
The hem of her dress
brushes against the trees
and the open meadows,
open spaces that bank
against the forest,
appearing familiar,
as if they were
from some other lifetime:
Brushing that brings
into focus
the sharpness
of the fox’s eyes
and the grass snake
that climbed
up into the cedar tree
to escape the flooded ground.
She is eye-level to us,
holding her head high,
looking into us
and we into her.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
People
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
There have been
periods of time
in history
where the people
have had power,
periods of peace
where rulers
have been peaceful,
and people have had
their say.
But now,
we, as people,
have lost our power.
We are living
in a period
of war and injustice:
Like the ancient civilizations
where despots ruled
with reigns of terror
for millennium.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
Spirit
a pastel by Ethel Mortenson Davis
Filed under Art, Art by Ethel Mortenson Davis, Ethel Mortenson Davis
End
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
His breathing
became ragged.
It was a rainy day.
At 6:00 p.m.
he passed away.
I was with him,
finally alone,
all afternoon.
I told him I was sorry
he had to endure
this ending.
A woman doctor
came up from
a different floor
to say to me
that when we die,
we choose the people
we want to be with.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
Indra’s Net a Success!
I am hoping that The Weirding Storm, A Dragon Epic, takes off in sales. It is selling slowly, but Indra’s Net, which Ethel and I both have poems in, is already a huge success. It is published by Bennison Books, the same publisher that published The Weirding Storm in Great Britain, and currently it is number 1 in sales on amazon.com in the poetry anthology category. Deborah Bennison is a great editor! Her book featuring poets from all over the world is obviously a huge success!
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry, Published Books, Thomas Davis
Bennison Books Announces Publication of Indra’s Net
Bennison Books, the publisher of my new book, The Weirding Storm, A Dragon Epic, has just released a new international anthology of poetry called Indra’s Net. Ethel is honored to have three poems in this important anthology. I was fortunate enough to have two poems accepted.
Carol Rumens, the Poetry Editor for The Guardian, one of the United Kingdom’s most important newspapers, wrote in the forward that:
The title of this anthology, Indra’s Net, was suggested by one of its poets, the late Cynthia Jobin. She explained: “Indra’s net is a metaphor for universal interconnectedness. It’s as old as ancient Sanskrit and as ‘today’ as speculative scientific cosmology. It’s what came to mind when thinking about nets and webs and interconnectedness … and jewels and poems.”
All proceeds from the anthology’s sale will be donated to the Book Bus, a “charity [that] aims to improve child literacy rates in Africa, Asia and South America by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them.”
I hope some of those who read this blog and Ethel’s and my Facebook postings will purchase what is a worthy project well worth everyone’s support.
To get more information on Indra’s Net to go to: https://bennisonbooks.com/2017/07/13/indras-net-all-profits-to-the-book-bus-charity.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry, Published Books, Thomas Davis
Chokecherries
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
Ripe chokecherries
on the branch
remind me
of the bitterness
of winter’s coming.
Filed under Ethel Mortenson Davis, poems, Poetry
fourwindowspress 