• 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
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… 🙂
My wife is a bit mad Stan, in her own frighteningly wonderful way — but that makes us perfectly suited… 😉
The word placement in the top one resembles the leaps!
And I love the haiku with its earthy simplicity.
liking both of these a lot rob. esp the first one. and the second one! lol
Hi Rob,
Takes a lot of courage to keep making the leap, knowing that one day we won’t make it!
You are making it difficult to choose favorites from among your new poems. I think I’ll take them all.
Maureen –
Please, enjoy them all… like my children, I try not to pick favorites… 😉
…rob
Beautiful work, both of them!
Great poetry, as usual.
Rob,
Dazzling! Love it!
Pamela
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
The leap was simply beautiful!
nice writing, it is always a pleasure to drop by your mind…it it a time of enlightenment
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.
nice one Rob…really leaps out for sure
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
Really enjoy the imagery in this one. Well done!
~Mark
What a vivid picture your haiku paints, Rob. Nice job on both!
Enjoyed both. Excellently done.
fantabulous – love the then and now!
Merciless Mentor
Both of these are lovely. You have a delightful poetical gift.
“Soon will come new life.”
AMAZING.
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.
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!
early or old, there will always be a reason to leap. i loved the sound of spring and your wife and her clatter!
even if she only leaps in her memory – beautiful and I love the haiku. Potting sheds and mud and new life – spring leaps!