Two Poems by Wendy Jensen
Wendy Jensen
Music and nature have been my refuges throughout my life. They both have allowed me to create a small space within which I can be uniquely myself. The pressures of the outside world fall away for a bit, and I can suddenly hear my inner voice, which had been overshadowed and undervalued. When I row, or play violin or piano, my spine straightens, my lungs fill, my eyes brighten and my soul smiles.
Connection
A deep sense of wrongness wakes me
Skin clings tightly to my bones
Movement a struggle
Breath rasps
I twist my body out of bed
Struggle into clothes
Limp to the car
A row. I need a row.
The deserted boathouse welcomes me, and my heart lifts
Hope speaks a tiny voice into my chest.
My oars mark my place on the dock
My shell lands firmly on my shoulders
A long-lost love
We breathe a sigh as she settles into the arms of the river
The red-eyed vireo’s lilting notes
Match the river’s lapping as I ready my oars and settle carefully in
The redolent aroma of river life
Caresses my cheeks
The soft breeze
Catches its breath as I lift my oars.
Could these wings carry me away?
Release my tightly twisted inner darknesses?
A pause, wings spread to gather water between
My skin coming alive, prickles
A gasp as I pull fiercely
The shell leaps into the current
Together we release ourselves from the land
I can almost hear the sudden separation.
We fly up the shining river
Cresting each wind-lifted ripple
We are the heron as she peers into the water
Searching for fish shadows
We are the loon who floats gently
Babies small fluff balls bubbled over her back
We are the sparkling sun curving over the shell’s wake
Shining points of light
We are nourished by the splash of cool droplets on my hands
My breath, released, now a celebration.
My soul merges with this world
I had nearly lost myself, forgetting where I belong
My world.
The memory of our brief separation
A grief I can set down now, for a while
I turn to ride the river home
Bringing its peace with me
Like a well-worn blanket
The world beyond my skin
Has welcomed me home again.
Avaloch Music
We step into the space of murmuring voices
Greetings made
Smiles exchanged
We’ve come for the music
For a new way to be
Seats filled, programs consulted
We wait for the magic.
The artists arrive with their instruments
Tucked against their bodies
Grasped carefully, a lover’s embrace
They sit, rustling music on stands
Tapping foot pedals into place.
Lips seek reeds
Fingers poise over strings
Hands curl around drumsticks.
We are instruments
Our heartstrings awaiting the thrumming
Our pulse slowing for the first note
The kiss of the reed our call to awaken
Into a new place
Freed from cares and worries
Bustling bodies stilled
Troubles fading into insignificance.
The music swells
Lifting us away to the rafters
Sweetness expands into our inner spaces.
We float as one
Pure notes carrying us away from our sadness
Obsessions forgotten
We walk into a new way of being
Grown larger than we were
Welcoming old feelings we thought lost
Embracing new pathways to peaceful oases
Everyday concerns dissolving
In the face of the rising songs.
We sit in bliss
Enveloped and buzzing with enchantment
Pulled from our well-worn ruts
Placed somewhere new
We’ve known this peace before
But its forgotten door has been barred --
It doesn’t matter now.
We can stay a bit
We make note of landmarks
To memorize the way back
The music slows
We catch our breath
Already grieving the ending
We’re not ready to leave this place of healing
But it’s time.
The notes fall softly
Rendering their own goodbyes.
Our breath stills as we ready ourselves to return
To the solid ground of day-to-day
Yet something remains
A twinkle in our eyes
The warmth of a hug
Elation held softly in the corners of our thoughts.
The applause, their only reward
They file away
We gather our arms around ourselves
Feeling the gifts they left behind
We leave, with hearts full
And minds at peace.