The Girl Wind Burning Acquired

photo by Becci Erickson, 2009

 

 

Weather Vein

All I remember is the girl

blown clean off the prairie,

and just that wind

going for days now

like it wants to tear

you loose, wipe you fresh

clean out of commodity.

The bulging air releases

into this. A tension spins

and slips, plunging

earthward. Someone

(the girl the ghost the shape

that passes through us?)

reminds us there is someone

else (and a wind to tack into

a lofted direction).

Something

(the blood rushing our ears?)

rattles up our insides

right along the spine,

to remind us we can be captured

yet, mid-sentence, can be swayed,

and my small grammar lifts

and folds,

hardly heard

in the vein of It. 

 

 

- originally published in Poetry Northwest

 

Tonight I initiated the first step of what is likely to be a big change in my life. As my practice has intensified over the last few months, I have come to realize that the contentment I was hoping for in my life just wasn't there, even though I have worked awfully hard to reach it. Intriguingly, I don't know where the winds are taking me yet, but know that my roots are in my practice and that the practice is my guide. To be honest, there is some fear, but not as much as you might think. This is a bit of a surprise to me, given that I've always had a clear sense of where I was heading since I was 17. The posting of this blog is my way of recognizing and honoring this first step on a new journey. At this particular moment, I am enjoying the not knowing, a sense of hope, the smell of a fresh breeze. Well, maybe "breeze" isn't quite the term for it, but it's close enough. 

 

For fun, while visiting another website a few days ago, I decided to click on the link below to find out what my buddhist name is. I'm not actually qualified to have a Buddhist name, but this site generates them randomly. My Buddhist name is The Girl Wind Burning Acquired. What's yours? If you try it and get the same thing let me know. Maybe the site was rigged. 

 

Note: I'll be polishing up the site in the next couple of weeks. Adding widgets, improving. For now, I just wanted to post.