Conjoined

Day 4 of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) 

Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt:

In her poem, “Living with a Painting,” Denise Levertov describes just that. … Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem about living with a piece of art.

Thus:

Conjoined

Every time I touch you, 
I track a different story.

Of Nature's wisdom and resilience;
how two branches melded into one,
fibers joining to heal a friction wound.

Of what happenstance compelled such intimacy;
sheer gravity, crowding overgrowth, maybe
competition for life-giving light.

Of the artistic bent of chaos,
that rendered a random bonding into
perfectly balanced asymmetry.

A masterpiece of your own right;
vying with any art created by humankind.
I am humbled to have found you
discarded in a brush pile.

They wonder why I keep tree branches
about the house.
I wonder why they don’t see the art.

Tall Order

heroes

HEROES WANTED
Must have crisp capes and masks with
just the right balance of intrigue and
mystery.

Must have superpowers of seeing through
rumors, lies and half-truths; and
leaping over small thoughts,
imposed barriers and festering hatred.

Must be unflinching in the face of
introspection, and have the wisdom to
acknowledge that there are no difficult answers,
just difficult questions.

Must be of such mettle that –
perchance the mask slips –
revelation of the hero’s true character
can withstand close scrutiny in the
oh-so-harsh light of day.

Most importantly,
beneath the crisp cape and behind the mysterious mask,
must be a human with foibles,
vulnerabilities, and the willingness to risk
love and forgiveness.

White horse optional.