NaPoWriMo #3 - The Leap / New Life
Posted by Rob Kistner | Filed under Free Verse, Haiku, Image, NaPoMo 2010, Poetry, courage, photo, wisdom
• one free verse poem
• one haiku
____________________________________
•
she need not be frightened
she knows the moves
sees the steps
clearly in her mind
she knows the stride
the position of her body
just before elevation
she understands the speed
the run up
the lead foot
the plant angle
the knee bend
the thrust
she has done this
literally thousands of repetitions
no need for trepidation
she knows the energy of the moment
of the crowd
as they anticipate
as she anticipates
the lift off
the rise
the glorious weightlessness
the thrill of flying
the feel of returning to earth
to her toes
her feet
how to offset the momentum
to snap to a graceful stop
come to point
straight and strong
arms raised and extended
the applause
that exhilaration
she knows this all
to her bones
she can do this
in her sleep
she has this mastered
she is a master dancer
but
that flash of doubt
and again
she fails
there is now one leap
she fears she cannot master
the leap
back through time
to her youth
to her glory
her invincibility
still
she leaps
she will always
leap
• • •
•
wife in her mud shoes
clatter in the potting shed
soon will come new life
• • •
poem and haiku by: rob kistner © 2010
April 3rd, 2010 at 12:25 am
I like the build up and sense of suspense in ‘The Leap’. Just waiting for the fall.
I’m glad ‘New Life’ includes the words ‘mud shoes’ and ‘potting shed’, otherwise it makes her sound like a mad professor…
April 3rd, 2010 at 12:30 am
My wife is a bit mad Stan, in her own frighteningly wonderful way — but that makes us perfectly suited…
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:20 am
The word placement in the top one resembles the leaps!
And I love the haiku with its earthy simplicity.
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:37 am
liking both of these a lot rob. esp the first one. and the second one! lol
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:47 am
Hi Rob,
Takes a lot of courage to keep making the leap, knowing that one day we won’t make it!
April 3rd, 2010 at 7:46 am
You are making it difficult to choose favorites from among your new poems. I think I’ll take them all.
April 3rd, 2010 at 9:23 am
Maureen -
Please, enjoy them all… like my children, I try not to pick favorites…
…rob
April 3rd, 2010 at 11:31 am
Beautiful work, both of them!
April 3rd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Great poetry, as usual.
April 3rd, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Rob,
Dazzling! Love it!
Pamela
April 3rd, 2010 at 2:16 pm
amazing how you captured that one moment so well for the rest of her life…. gardening and mud.. purest form of happiness i whish yr wife well, oh, and u too…. in posse
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:04 pm
The leap was simply beautiful!
April 3rd, 2010 at 4:53 pm
nice writing, it is always a pleasure to drop by your mind…it it a time of enlightenment
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Wow! A poem perfectly in tune with the visual image — and the balanced form of the poem. Each line built the tension; the denouement was unexpected and yet inevitable. May your poetry continue to leap, and your wife continue with “mud shoes”, happily in tune.
April 3rd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
nice one Rob…really leaps out for sure
April 3rd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
I lke the comparison of the leap to that of an accomplished performer…getting a lot harder as one gets older but still trying. Good one
April 3rd, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Really enjoy the imagery in this one. Well done!
~Mark
April 3rd, 2010 at 10:51 pm
What a vivid picture your haiku paints, Rob. Nice job on both!
April 4th, 2010 at 1:18 am
Enjoyed both. Excellently done.
April 4th, 2010 at 6:36 am
fantabulous - love the then and now!
Merciless Mentor
April 4th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Both of these are lovely. You have a delightful poetical gift.
April 4th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
“Soon will come new life.”
AMAZING.
April 5th, 2010 at 5:16 am
I love the mud shoes and the potting shed…as far as the leap goes–well I’ve never flown that high, but I can identify with the falling.
April 5th, 2010 at 6:17 am
That is all a dancer is trained to do, to leap; to stretch the boundaries and defy gravity. Love the continuity of life you so aptly portrait in your poems. A truly miraculous poem. May you and your love ones continue to defy gravity. I love the ideas which spring from your imaginative leaping dear poet, musician, artist, Renaissance Rob! Many continued Happy Spring leapings ad infinitum!
April 5th, 2010 at 9:15 am
early or old, there will always be a reason to leap. i loved the sound of spring and your wife and her clatter!
April 6th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
even if she only leaps in her memory - beautiful and I love the haiku. Potting sheds and mud and new life - spring leaps!