Category Archives: Ethel Mortenson Davis

Song of Ecstasy

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

She is the sort that hears the song
the hills make after a heavy rain —
a humming sound one hears
first through the finger tips,
then the ears.

She’s the sort that dances with antelope at dusk,
playing in the field until dawn.

She’s the sort that makes the insect song —
not bell, nor click, but a rhythm in-between:

like the sound the silver pieces
sewn on her dress and leggings make,
a sound like wind and bell
as she makes her grand entry
in a circle around the village —

head held high,
her hair flowing behind her,

tasting the song of pure ecstasy
like honey on the tongue.

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Cardinal

a pastel drawing by Ethel Mortenson Davis

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Earth

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

If only it would snow,
white covering red;
red now is everywhere
in this world.
 
If you go up into space
all that is made by man is gray;
gray is everywhere
in this world.
 
I want to put a ladder
further up
so that what I see
is the red-brown
of the earth,
 
the green of vegetation,
and the lovely blue of water,
shrouded by a white,
see-through shawl
around her shoulders
where there is no longer gray.

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Juno

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

Nearly every night
Juno wakes me
With eerie sounds,

sounds that are crying,
tormented
from deep dreams.

She came to our gate
eleven years ago, starving,
having recently had puppies.

After feeding her for days,
she never tried to go back
to them,

so I thought they were dead,
or taken from her.

I go to her in the night,
comforting her,
telling her she is now safe,

telling her
humans are both tormentors
and saviors.

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Discovery

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

It is because
the earth is tilted
this time of year,
the sun brightest at sunrise,
October light exceptional,
that I can see
silver threads strung
across my path
among the oldest trees,

thousands of gleaming strings
made by tree snails or slugs —
trails of lubricant
caught by sunlight
in a mathematical moment;

glistening chains we put
around our necks
to take home with us
to put in our favorite drawer —
the one labeled “DISCOVERIES”—
there in the back of our mind.

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The Art of Craig Blietz

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

1

His art is of cows, goats, and pigs,
but mainly dairy cows, Holsteins,

great portraits of black and white Holsteins
posing with dignity and grace,
one with a large, bulging vein
running the length of the under belly
to its udder,

portraits rich in painterly quality,
showing a wondrous love for these animals.

2

A downed cow,
too sick to get on its feet,
is dragged with chains
to the slaughtering yard.

A man kicks her in the head
on her way past him,
dignity and grace
still in her eyes.

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Cedar Trunk

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a photograph by Ethel Mortenson Davis

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Wrinkled Skin

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

This morning
the trunks of cedar trees
felt skin-like,
looking like wrinkled
elephant skin —

elephants cornered
throughout Africa,
poached, killed
for money.

One man spent most
Of his life protecting them.

When he died recently,
the elephants walked
in single-file to his house
where he lay in state,
circling his house and
staying for some time.

Animals and birds know
when people want to
protect them,
show grace and gratitude.

They wait for us to save them,

the animals,
the cedars,
the wrinkled skin.

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Liberation

by Ethel Mortenson Davis

An old man leaves
a federal prison,
free at last.
He has spent
most of his life
behind bars
for a crime
he did not commit.

The air is as sweet
as any he has known.
He steps into freedom.

This morning
a white butterfly,
with black accents
I could not identify,
was caught in a spider’s web.

I pulled him from
his bondage.
He was still alive
and eager to fly.

He flew into the forest
rich with oxygen,
a freedom he had thought
would never again be his.

And there in the sundrenched trees
he became giddy
on pulsing, cooling waves of air.

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Troubled Waters

a pastel by Ethel Mortenson Davis

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