© 2008 -- 2011 the Grandpa at The Word Mechanic. All rights reserved.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Discovery

There was a moment when he heard his lover’s voice
And thought he heard a language, that was more language
Than he had ever heard before. Like black granite
Dropping straight to the sea. Like wind on which gulls glide.

Her words were more varied than roses in sunlight,
Than the mottled maple outside his window when
The sky’s light lay parallel to the earth. And why,
He asked, had he not heard it before? Heard only

Filtered expressions of common speech? The next day
In a boat on the lake he listened to the lap
Of waves from a dying wake. Heard a cicada’s
Hum winding in the August air. Watched schooling bass

Churn the water no more than a pole’s reach away.
He lay down, his face to the sun, and tried staring
At it through the mesh in his hat. That night he walked
The concession area past where swimmers splashed

In the afternoon. At the end of the pier, two
Men sat in an anchored boat, their light a halo
On the silent water, and he heard it again.
In their talk, their words like ice on the quiet lake.


Originally published in A Matter of Mind, Foothills Publishing, 2004.
© copyright 2004, 2009 the Grandpa at The Word Mechanic Blog.All rights reserved.

116 comments:

  1. Thank you, WM. I needed that today.
    Pearl

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  2. Is their/your life, their love and their lady the sea? :)

    Beautiful..I want to be on that boat staring through the mesh of my hat.

    Peace - Rene

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  3. Damn you're good...I posted a poem today and thought of you....so good to see you posting :) xo

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  4. He rocked the house with this one :-) Thanks for joining in tonight with us too.

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  5. Beautifull poem, smooth, well writen, soft.
    I was thinking that probably the silent river said much more than his lover did with his "language expressing it all"

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  6. Lovely.. it is a poetic Sunday full of beautiful poetry.. Reading simultaneously on your blog and Braja's.

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  7. Stoppin' by...nothing clever enough to write...

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  8. This was so beautiful... like music to my ears.

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  9. A lovely word-landscape with tiny human figures.

    Aloha-

    Comfort Spiral

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  10. Give the man -- our wordsmith, poet -- a standing ovation!

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  11. This was gorgeous, and a great end to the day! Thank you :)

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  12. Hey G, just checking in on you and seeing how ya doing tonight :-)

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  13. Hey G has a bunch of schooling bass did ya bring your fishing poles gurls :-))

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  14. I didn't but I'll go get one of Jody's bass poles.

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  15. Got my pole and bait! Bet I can beat cha' to the fishin' hole!!!

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  16. You don't mind crickets do you amy I brought a bunch

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  17. dude can write and if you can't he can correct your booty...LOL

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  18. I think red ink is kinda damaging to the self esteem. Can we use purple or something a little more uplifting?

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  19. Crickets are the best!!! I used to fish with my Grandpa, crickets, minnows, worms, liver. . . all the good stuff

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  20. Grandpa, this is beautiful poetry!

    I don't know why I haven't been here before!

    I think I just fell in love! :)

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  21. 2 men sitting in a boat with halo's hummm reminds me of a helmet story I have heard of

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  22. I can even take my own fish off the hook!! Pretty good for a girl huh?

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  23. uhmmm Pastor.. YOU are taken remember !!! sheeeszzz do I have to remind you of everything

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  24. I am NOT touching liver, or worms! And I am not killing a cricket by piercing it through the heart to catch a fish!

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  25. A helmet would definately be needed and a life vest!!!! Maybe those little swim arm floaty things!

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  26. Amy you are too funny! Does a purple pen make your self-esteem feel better?

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  27. me too Amy but I use a towel and needle nose pliers I don't do slime to well

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  28. But don't tell *her I said that, she's sensitive when it comes to her swimming witht he helmet. It is heavy you know!

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  29. Dar, have you written a comment in the last five minutes. . . caused I just refreshed and you ain't here!

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  30. oooh purple is my most favorite sharpie to use :-)

    don't geaux all girlie Pastor

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  31. OH. . . yeah. . . . you probably should remind me. . . . it's that helmet problem. . .

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  32. uhmmmm I am like in between you and amy.. ooooooooooooLOL

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  33. you two are so typical.
    EWWW, slime
    EWWWW, worms
    Just give the darn things and I will bait them for you!
    Wouldn't want you to get a little worm guts on those pretty little fingers now would we.

    Darsden, really, a towel? I'm shocked!

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  34. Oh The Places We Could Go. . . .

    Remember that book by Dr. Suess, Dar?

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  35. who's weaving a tangled web here? Boy are people gonna talk now!

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  36. yep I was going to but I thought an hour already of that helmet talking would have been enough


    amy I love the swimmies idea

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  37. amy I bait my hooks with pliers if I use worms they are just really gross.


    gurl you should know I carry a big spoon for stirring

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  38. It helps keep the helmet above water

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  39. Oh. . . I'm girlie alright!

    Is the ground soft beside the lake where we are fishing?

    I don't want to sink in my heels!

    Oh, and don't laugh at my pink tackle box! BTW, it has some make up inside . . . . just in case my face gets all shiny in the sun.

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  40. it's been awhile for dr. Suess for me...where ya wanna go

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  41. Plier? I'm surprised! Just didn't picture you a kinda of girl afraid to get your hands dirty.

    Especially with all that stirring you do!

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  42. yes but just watch the hill, don't want you tumbling down HEAD first

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  43. Duh. . . it was about that comment you left about being in the middle. . .

    Oh wait. . . you wanna borrow my helmet?

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  44. oh they get dirty..but not with fish or worm guts..

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  45. G is going to have a fit he missed his own roast

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  46. Okay. . . so we went and got Chinese carry out and I swear to everything holy there is a lizard tail in my soup!

    Now. . . Darsden. . . that we are back. . . I am on the "slow' computer so how is it that I am managing to keep up? hmmmmmm

    Maybe someone else needs a helmet. . . Amy. . . .

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  47. I mix and stir...poke and ping...

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  48. I KNOW YOU DIDN'T!!!

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  49. OMGosh you didn't get her a matching one...dang gina ..tightwad...poor amy

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  50. Dar- can we stop and have a moment of prayer for the PASTOR's Attitude!!

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  51. I love Chinese and I wasn't invited...lizards are good for fishing too

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  52. you know the Mongolian chicken isn't chicken..LOL I sure do love that dingo monolian though...

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  53. let me guess you will hold the lizard with your bare hands for fishing won't you?

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  54. Let's pray: "Dear Lord. . . baby jesus. . . all 8 lbs, gold diaper pens. . . Amy doesn't like my attitude. IN fact, Amy doesn't like my helmet either. . . .In fact, do you think Amy likes anything? Could we change her mind? Amen."

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  55. she could use a lil adjustment... attitude and helmet wise I think it's gotten too tight again..

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  56. That chicken is either deep fried pursian or Crispy Kitty. . . not sure which~

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  57. Oh Lord. . . here we go again. The lights in that helmet just sparked and I think there is a short. . . .do I see smoke?

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  58. I think i smell buring hair

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  59. Hey wait! do you smell that smoke?

    Why is my head getting hot?

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  60. LOL now that was funny..

    Amy I won't kill lizards for fishing I fish with them rubber lizards and rubber worms now.

    We haven't had crickets since Katrina so I had to adjust my fishing somewhat I also throw all the fish back...they are my friends

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  61. Do you think if we throw some water on her she will melt?

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  62. And. . . I can't feel my fingers. . . and they are purple. . . circulation being cut off from my head down!

    Can someone please get those pliers and pry this off my head!!!!!

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  63. OMGosh...I need depends on that one... I smell it too...it's a burning

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  64. NO JOKE??? Katrina killed the crickets??? I guess i never thought about that

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  65. purple IS my favorite color

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  66. Dar, are you serious? You really don't have crickets since Katrina?

    I am being serious for a minute. That is really wild and sad.

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  67. Have mercy Lord, put the Pastor out.. you set the bush on fire, but don't burn our pastor down...

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  68. Did she take all the insects and little creatures or just the crickets?

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  69. NOW we really are in trouble!

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  70. I thought it was just my head!

    Okay. . . now let me go pray I think I'm gonna get smoted for that one!

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  71. Yes, totally serious. WE lost the 3 places you could get them. They haven't been rebuilt one is almost completed..YES I am talking 4 years later. It is still very sad hear...all you hear is about New Orleans They at least had houses and building left...flooded but left. HERE we have nothing for 32 miles long...4 blocks deep..no joke.

    I refuse to pay 50cents a piece at pet smart for a cricket

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  72. Can't you go get them out of the yard?

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  73. I thought you meant they got drowned out or something?

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  74. We NEVER paid for crickets! We went out before the crack of dawn and caught them ourselves.

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  75. She wiped out alot but brought in some really new strange looking critters from the islands out there. We now have these lizards that look like the kind you can buy in the pet store...the spiney ones can't come up with the name

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  76. I thought you meant Katrina killed out all the cricket population, not the buildings where they were sold.

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  77. And that is seriously sad about the hurricane there. Dar I had no idea.

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  78. can I borrow the helmet or is is totally melted to the pastors head now?

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  79. Don't do reptiles!! That is freaky! I can't imagine how terrible that was!

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  80. Not the same kind of crickets, yard crickets are black..fishing crickets are brown. You could get 100 crickets for 3 bucks last you 2 days. Unless you leave them outside and the birds get them...talk about mutilated.... and if you bring them in the mole hole like I did because I saw what the bird did to them...then you get a lil snake in your house trying to get them..NO JOKE

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  81. Oh. . .dear. . . . lord. . . . you would think Amy and i are having a conversation out loud with these comments we are leaving the are identical. . . . sheez. . .

    Amy get off my wave length . . . . .find a new channel for a minute. . . .

    Dar. . . it's true. . . after 18 years. . . . you start thinking the same things. . . . .


    That whole island lizard thing is creepy. . . are they cute?

    I love cute lizards.

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  82. Every place I grew up in all the different houses, none exist!

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  83. OK, that does it!!! NEVER coming to visit you!!!! DON'T DO REPTILES!!!! Snake IN the house!! AHHH NO!!!

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  84. yes but these are really cool looking ones
    they look like like dinosaurs

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  85. Yes, I am sure 18 years you don't even have to start the sentence or speak to finish it..you just know!

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  86. my fortune in my fortune cookie says "There are many new opportunities that are being presented to you"

    WHATEVER. . . NONE OF THEM BETTER HAVE TO DO WITH SNAKES!!!!

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  87. I think ya'll both totally Rock!

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  88. Hey dar,

    WE have grandpa almost to 100 comments!

    Where we going after this?

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  89. well don't keep your crickets inside and you won't have any of those snakes!

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  90. Dar - our house is so quiet. We don't even have to speak at all really, we just read each other's thoughts

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  91. The only cricket I have inside is the die cutter in the scrap booking room

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  92. When I go to work, I have to remember to speak. People get so angry because I forget they can't read my mind.

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  93. oh, but I have a wii totally rocked out you can play with :-) 2 ponds in my front yard stocked with bass and brim... fire pits, swimming pools, movie stars

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  94. Yeah about that mind reading thing. . . . sometimes it would be easier if you would at least grunt when you point to something. . . .

    That gets on my nerves.

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  95. Thanks Dar - we think you Rock too!! Hey we should start a band!!!!

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  96. awesome Girls thank you both for attending G's first roast :-)) I had a blast with ya'll tonight

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  97. Dar. . . we will still come down there! She ain't scared of lizards.

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  98. I wish ya'll would ...we would pass a good time to quote my cajun pop

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  99. Congrats Grandpa. . . you've just been roasted!

    I really wish you could have been here!

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  100. you said you were leaving at a 100 I take a pastor at her word

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  101. Looks like you were Dar-roasted, Grandpa :)))

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  102. DAMN. Wish I'd been here. Thanks, Ladies. That was fun reading. Next time, wake me up first,

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