Thursday, March 25, 2010

Word Association, 3 a.m.

by Maria Kelly I think of you here in the inky blackness separating dusk from dawn and I listen to music - REM, and wonder: am I losing mine, too? faith - makes me feel faint when I start to question it, so I just ignore the issue and place it, wrap it contextually, conceptually within the confusion and obscurity of other words: clamor - am I making one for nothing here in the silent breathings of my soul? sleep - when is the last time since you left that I knew that blessedness? or love - which is something like faith but is even more intangible?

7 comments:

Carrie Clevenger said...

Ah, 3AM. Good subject.

Jim Bronyaur said...

Maria,

The struggles between humans and faith goes deep forever. I really like this poem. The short lines make it move fast but the longer words slow it down enough to sink in. Blackness, contextually, conceptually, blessedness. . . such powerful damn words! :)

Well done and thanks for sharing.

Jim

Marisa Birns said...

Powerful.

Those early morning questions about faith after suffering immeasurable loss. The 'whys' of it all.

No answers, yet. No rest for body or soul.

Both cases--faith, love--require a leap.

Love your beautiful poem.

Cat Russell said...

Lovely.

Joz Varlo said...

Thanks, guys for the nice comments. You all nailed where my soul was at when I wrote this (and yes, when I finished the rough draft, it was about 3 am) and it sort of is my "Where are you?" question to God because I am suffering and undergoing trials right now. It is difficult and Marisa, you are right. Sometimes it requires us to just shut our eyes and walk right off the ledge. Which is how I responded to getting laid off with this whole college thing.

Cynthia Schuerr said...

Powerful words and I see powerful pain, Maria. You respond well to it.
I really enjoyed the pace of your words.. As, Jim said, you slow it down with the larger words. And it seems to soften the thought, as well.
Love it!

Joz Varlo said...

Thanks, Cynthia. I'm glad you liked it. :)