Today’s poem was inspired by poets.org poem-a-day poem, In Exile by Bryher as well as Shawna Lemay’s Transactions with Beauty post, Participating Joyfully in the Sorrows of the World. Please consider subscribing to both amazing offerings. They’re free, and will soften your suffering.
After ‘In Exile’ by Bryher
and what of the painter who puts the paint before the person? of the poet who puts the poem before the partner? I’ve heard stories of suffering muses, shrunken and shamed by their creative counterparts…is it love that hurts or thought? Bryher asks. and what of exile as a transference of pain from one body to another? and what of stealing another’s voice or choice or movement for a thoughtless thought, exiling its factual consequences? how does love feel about the way we treat her? is not all art pain, suffering exiling the body? when we do it alone, it is different than when we do it together…are the separations between us in our suffering necessary? when we protest for our pain, we are mirrors. when we protest for each other’s pain we are still mirrors. love hurts when thoughts dement the truths of our shared suffering. and what of the leader whose thoughts have no love? if we choose exile, 40 days and 40 nights in a desert contemplating love, shifting our suffering to the sand, under bleeding sun, in stunning silence, surely the fate of our collected faiths revises its path. if we are all love’s muses, and our thoughts believe in the power of her infinite care, when suffering dissipates to memory (a kind of thought), hurt rises, shameless, out of the body as heat and paintings and poems and protests release competition and comparison…what remains when we carry suffering together? is change love’s muse? are you a painter? a poet? a prophet? a president? a partner? are you pain’s muse? is it love that drifts your head toward the closest heart? your heart, is it thoughtful? lonely? suffering? if it all hurts, may we mirror, for love.
May peace continue to move our love.
VANESSA SHIELDS 