between sadness and grief I feel the warmth of love red as closed lips opening softly mouthing words that fall out tenderly wanting to change the inevitable Inspired by William Carlos Williams’ poem, The Great Figure. It was so hard to tell friends and family when my treatment options had ended. What can they say… what can be said? However 9 months later, I’m still alive and these are precious times as a result.
Whereas the William Carlos Williams poem focuses on a fleeting moment of movement and sound, sometimes interpreted as a swiftly passing, unheeded lifetime, your poem feels expansive. Love needs no words. It is so all-encompassing that it contains and holds everything. In its moment, it seems to take you out of that tight spot between sadness and grief.
Ironically, in a way, it is the words of your poem that summon this feeling of warmth spreading between people and connecting them - and the image of the lips gives a sense of intimacy and shared understanding. The poem is like a tender whisper of love.
This one strikes a nerve in a wonderful way for me. Williams is a longtime favorite poet. It is the stark, simplicity of his words that allow the reader to fill the spaces with personal application. Your poem does the same. His writing has given me peace for decades. Upon my first wedding anniversary, I painted a simple watercolor illustration of his "so much depends" poem as a gift to my beloved. The picture is so faded now, but the words are stronger than ever. In your own words "the warmth of love" fills the gaps of emptiness and fear much like those cans of spray insulation (or better imagery yet, the petals of a poppy pushing through the joined edges of the sepals) expands and fills spaces that formerly were dark and cold. Each year the blooms of the poppy are a type of resurrection . . . glazed with [tears of] rainwater. Thank you for sharing your art and filling in some gaps for all of us.
Another moving and thought-provoking poem.
Whereas the William Carlos Williams poem focuses on a fleeting moment of movement and sound, sometimes interpreted as a swiftly passing, unheeded lifetime, your poem feels expansive. Love needs no words. It is so all-encompassing that it contains and holds everything. In its moment, it seems to take you out of that tight spot between sadness and grief.
Ironically, in a way, it is the words of your poem that summon this feeling of warmth spreading between people and connecting them - and the image of the lips gives a sense of intimacy and shared understanding. The poem is like a tender whisper of love.
This one strikes a nerve in a wonderful way for me. Williams is a longtime favorite poet. It is the stark, simplicity of his words that allow the reader to fill the spaces with personal application. Your poem does the same. His writing has given me peace for decades. Upon my first wedding anniversary, I painted a simple watercolor illustration of his "so much depends" poem as a gift to my beloved. The picture is so faded now, but the words are stronger than ever. In your own words "the warmth of love" fills the gaps of emptiness and fear much like those cans of spray insulation (or better imagery yet, the petals of a poppy pushing through the joined edges of the sepals) expands and fills spaces that formerly were dark and cold. Each year the blooms of the poppy are a type of resurrection . . . glazed with [tears of] rainwater. Thank you for sharing your art and filling in some gaps for all of us.
If only a wish could change the inevitable, I wish for you to have many more days to grace this earth as you do x