April Poetry: Margie Doyle

In recognition of Poetry Month, and to celebrate and highlight our treasure trove of Orcas Island poets, Orcas Issues is pleased and honored to again offer daily poetry during April.

Still Now

— by Margie Doyle —

It just is
Treading softly
Dawn lights the sky
The cat wants out
I stand
Still
I stand

Tears at the ready
As is my pen
The artist’s easel
Face down in the rain
The cat cries

The sun-starved plants
Just are
In the rain
I still stand
Doing nothing
Empty
Tears at the ready
Counting the days
Become eternity

This is where I stand
With the wind blowing
And the cat crying
Regrets, remorse
Redemption
Regret like vinegar
Guilt like bile
Redemption like silver

Blinded by the sun
I see
That I am still

The cat stalks the bird in the sunshine
And the wind ruffles the pine trees
With the helicopter sounding overhead

A rescue mission to save a life
Perhaps it is better
To let the matured soul go

To the freedom
From pain
And struggle

Born again as a mossy spore
That spreads to cover the winter hardness
Dark and soft yes
Like a hummed lullaby

The cat scratches its chin
On the sodden planter
Still green parsley springs up
Fly away birds

Ever Yearning for the Sea

— by Margie Doyle —

You need to talk to yourself
to the Kingdom of God within you
Ever yearning for the lost
Primal dance,
the fisherman exult in dancing with the sea
Slow dancing like an infant with a bear
Scarcely able to stand in your slickers and carharts

Partnered with a lumbering behemoth –
wet fur, sharp teeth, razor claws
Never knowing if it will smite you or ignore you
as it clobbers fish and berries into its maw

But knowing
You are insignificant

That’s what you have a home for
On the sea
You are homeless

Dancing, challenging, beguiling
But not comforting

Except in its immensity
If immensity brings you comfort

And it might
To know it is so big
That it won’t bother with you
To help you or to hurt you
Like the God who may or may not exist

“The Letter” after Mary Cassatt’s painting

— by Margie Doyle —

“The Letter” by Mary Cassatt

I make tea
I write letters
I am dainty with my paisley dress
and floral wallpaper

But oh my beloved
When you open this envelope
Sealed with my warm wet lips, Can you
read through the tears blurring my words?

Receive my love, take my heart
I will wrench it from my own soul
To give wholly to you alone
If only you were with me

To smile gently over a cup of tea
Or to unveil my body for your blanket
A comforter to my quilt of tidy fabric
and delicate shades of color

My want for you burns my heart and throat

I seek you
In your home
In your children
In you

My tapestry unravels,
each night my covering more threadbare
Each day I rise quietly

I heat water for tea

And pin my hair close to my head and
Cover my wanton longing
with modest dress

I simply write

Longing to reach you
with my neat hands
Hungry lips and simple dress
All conveyed in this envelope

How I envy this letter that you will open,
You will remove from the envelope,
You will grasp in both hands
Or perhaps lay upon a broad table

Before devouring with your eyes
My whole heart and desire for you

Receive my letter

Awaiting your reply,
I drink tea.