Saturday 12 May 2012

Where the wild things are

As I grow older,
I want to be    
The forest tree
With yellow vines 
Reaching not for the sky
But for the humid soil
Where mushroom feet  
And moss carpet covers
Secret trails and broken twigs

I want to shake leaves
Not only during autumn  
But when I want to dance with
The wild things hanging on branches,
Stripped of pelt,
Smelling of rain sap,
I breathe their sounds, raw   
As their long whiskers, dark as the sun


Turning me into a white wolf
Growling into my lover’s ears  
Like thunder on a stormy night
A beast with a coarse tongue     
Hungry for open fields, 
Thirsty for ripening moon,  
Native drums ripping pages
Into the night,  
I run 



Posted for D'verse Poets Pub:   Poetics :   Maurice Sendaks and Wild Things 
 “Inside all of us is HOPE. 
Inside all of us is FEAR. 
Inside all of us is ADVENTURE. 
Inside all of us is A WILD THING.” ~Maurice Sendak  



48 comments:

  1. Wonderful! Love the line "Native drums ripping pages Into the night." You definitely walked on the wild side with this one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. nice..i like the feeling of being grounded in reality here...love the humid soil, the mushrooms and moss carpet...and then...there's room for that wolf to be set free...and roam the land...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Claudia for your visit and kind words ~

      Delete
  3. I just loved the entire last stanza, Heaven!

    "A beast with a coarse tongue
    Hungry for open fields,
    Thirsty for ripening moon" makes me want to howl in the night!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well Mary, that wouldn't be too bad to do :-)

      Thank you for your support ~

      Delete
  4. hey now its back...smiles...

    there is great wisdom in reaching both for the sky as well as into the earth...a tree will only grow as big as it goes deep you know...and dancing with teh wild things, i am all for it...growl on...and run..smiles...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes after some more editing, smiles ~ Thanks for the visits and support Brian.

      Delete
  5. A bit of both worlds for you, real and imaginary playful. :) Yes, we do have all of those inside us. I hope I never loose mine.
    Lovely write!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bren for the lovely comments. But I had to reigned back though my wild side :-)

      Delete
  6. Wonderful Write! Love the tone set by the images...I had a shaman tell me my spirit guide is a white wolf (classic, eh?) I've embraced him and named him Jaxx...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really Tash ~ To have a spirit guide like that is amazing ~

      You need to write about it ~ Thanks for kind words ~

      Delete
  7. I loved this run on the wild side with all its evocative imagery. Also, I agree Tash should write about Jaxx, that would be exciting to read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anna ~ I wrote my thoughts on this in Tash's blog.

      Happy day to you ~

      Delete
  8. I would love to have a room in a shroom like a Smurf...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really Dezmond ~ (trying to picture it)

      Thanks for the visit :-)

      Delete
  9. Super poem. I especially went for the white wolf!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Somehow I knew you'd go this way with the prompt. Love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How can I resist the wild thing :-)

      Thanks Laurie, you know me well ~

      Delete
  11. Native drums ripping pages is very memorable, but so is the rough tongue. Well-done. k.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is what I love about poetry, it can be interpreted in so many different ways. I may come back tomorrow and see it in a whole different light. Well done Heaven.

    ReplyDelete
  13. grrr! a shewolf.

    i loved this!

    your words heaven, so fucking seductive.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very nice, concrete imagery--I smelled the leaves of the forest and felt the humid soil. It had a very real quality to it, despite the imagination.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh this is so wild, I love.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Now don't go growling too loud into your lovers ears, wouldn't want him to go deaf or anything..haha

    ReplyDelete
  17. The last stanza is really wild, sensuously wild in fact. 'Growling, wow! Great write Grace!

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  18. I guess you know I LOVE wolves, and so I LOVE this poem. Definitely has the wild feel to it! Very nice!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm so glad you let your wild thing out, Grace. I love this, especially the last few lines. They make me want to go out and howl at the moon... or something.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I like that you write from the perspective of the tree!! So creative and this is my abfave:

    "I want to shake leaves
    Not only during autumn
    But when I want to dance"

    Great writing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Hannah ~ I love that part too ~

      Delete
  21. I left a wonderful response but it flew off the page to cyberspace. Lovely poem...age and wisdom...wild things are right here with us at our feet, just look. Sometimes though even that can not help us to be adept or adjust to change or disappointment. gardenlilie.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the lovely words....I like your perspective "at our feet, just look".

      Delete
  22. Very cool direction you went here, I love the embodying reflection/empowerment here. Really neat. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow, I really enjoyed reading this! Very wild poem, and thank you for joining the wild rumpus!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Full of passion (do I always say that about your poems?- sorry if I do! But its true!)- there's a few ways this could be looked at- the tree as a mother with its wild children having off its branches- but the outside of the motherly role- a lover (as the wolf) running wild in the night! Maybe immmissing the point- but this is how your piece spoke to me in all it's vivid imagery and colour

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for sharing your perspective on my poems. I like that you see the tree as a mother...I was thinking of a person grounded in reality and seeking to know herself more. I appreciate your reflections.

      Delete
  25. Thank you for taking me back to Sendak's world of words and feelings. My favorite lines were "smelling of rain sap" and "native drums ripping pages into the night" with the entire painting a treasure to read.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wonderful...you really took me back, and then brought me home again to enjoy Sendak's magic as an adult! Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Natural and resonant i loved it and its feel

    ReplyDelete
  28. Lovely and vivid, very sensual and full of the senses :) I found so many different ways to read it, a lush spectrum of interpretations to enjoy.
    ~Ais

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wild and real your poetry continues to captivate me. I enjoy reading all that you share. In the end you return to earth and not the heavens. There is something very solid about that. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oh, this is delicious. I love the sound and sense of it. I shall definitely have to read it again.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Mushroom feet with the wild things hanging on branches! Motherhood :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. This is wildly beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your visit and comments ~ I appreciate them ~