Intimate Details Evoked through Writing
In the spirit of writing intimate details, as I wrote about in my January-February Writing from the Deeper Self Newsletter (to be posted here later on), I am delighted to present my first guest-blogger, Ann Luria. Her beautiful poem illustrates how evocative writing can capture an idea, a feeling, an atmosphere better than abstract, explanatory writing.
Ann chose to chronicle her experience of cancer, some time back, in a haiku-like poem. The combination of the insight characteristic of her profession as a therapist with the telling details that bring a reader close in makes for a touching, illuminating, and compelling work that—though it is motivated by the desire to explore what underlies the cancer, as well as what to do about it—is not limited to that, or even just to her. Many people could relate to the feelings and images here.
I am moved by how this beautiful haiku goes deeply into the subject, how concretely it shows the workings of transformation. I love what the writer notices, and how she says it. I love “no way to be perfect now” in itself, and also juxtaposed with her cat Reuben wishing to be human.
Deep writing is not about being perfect. It’s about being so true that something universal is reached. I think that happens, here.
Haiku like
I
Raindrops fall on ground
Planning another surgery
I am thoughtful
II
Spidery green leaves
Burst Open
Like ducts of cancer
Waiting to be born
III
An onion grows old in the cabinet
Donning a rotten brown edge
Biting into a crisp
Blood red-apple
With a surprise-
A decayed part-
Peeling a firm yellow banana
Where did its tan crown come from?
Awaiting signs from the universe
A small re-excision
Or total breast reconstruction
My answer comes in nature’s forms.
IV
Addictions melt away
Shedding their old skins
The gift of disease
Breathe
There is no way to be perfect now!
V
Worry melts away
In nature’s heat
Doesn't matter what conclusion is reached-
The moon still bathes the nighttime sky
Beckoning the world
To a new darkness
VII
Drinking glacier water
Standing on melted ice
How lucky I am.
VIII
Cat bathes in the moonlight
Smiling-
Chin turned up to the stars
Light pours in through closed mini blinds
How lucky we are.
IX
Cold air frosts the plants
Writing pros and cons of surgery and which type-
Anxiety generates heat –
Will I ever make a decision?
X
Angular cells
with jagged edges
Multiple nuclei -
Unlike their circular cousins-
My doctor draws each -
Explaining why surgery is the only option
Thank G-d for him –
Like a pearl in an oyster
A small column of ductal cancer
In situ -
Is unexpectedly found.
XI
Shadows come alive
Stretching out tall like giants
Others root sideways
Widening and get smaller
Some ant forward
Flickering on and off
Like well lit candles
In the sun’s rays-
Breaking free of human forms.
XII
Paw prints in the sink…
Bathtub…
Reuben is caught again –
Drinking water from dripping facets
Nourishing himself -
Wishing to be human.
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Copyright © Ann Luria 2010. All rights reserved.
Ann Lurie is a therapist in private practice, so that the transformative healing journey is part and parcel of her work and being.
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