Margaret Vidale

Creation
  
Concealed within my mind’s thick
webbing lie knots of words.  Some
gleam like silver eggs, others are tiny

and moonless black, still others flush
like the rushing rose of a lover’s blush. 
It is my passion to search them out

and unravel their murmuring coils.
I pull forth startling similes, the crack
of lines breaking and rhymes as natural

as a baby’s heartbeat.  I’ve wrestled
their mysteries, freed the gems snarled
within, then strung them into intricate

chains.  I’ve lain back, exhausted, only
to be struck by the bleak and certain
insight that my beloved creations are

dull and familiar as handfuls of sand.  
But I will not cease the search, for when
I least expect it, I’ll reach out and tug

a dangling strand and a poem will unfold,
delicate and complex, a numinous blossom
falling into the cup of my human hand.

 

 

Ultrasound Grandson
(for Josh)

Mystery within mystery within
my daughter, I see the bright pearls of your
spine, the apple dome of your skull, the more
shadowed shapes of a tiny nose and chin.
Slippery fish in your private ocean,
curious nestling, cushioned and secure,
what great force unfolds each perfect contour
and seamless flows as each new stage begins?
Your legs kick as if to say you’re ready––
do you sense another world is waiting,
and hear the muffled sounds of future days?
No need to hurry, bold hearted baby,
your long course through life is just commencing,
and there’ll be ample time to find your way.

Ultrasound Grandson appeared in Lucid Rhythms in April, 2009.